Saudi Arabia wants to use Messi as a launder

Followed by a meeting set with

Turki Al-Sheikh

and being offered a contract of a high price,

has received an open letter which says that he must reject any sort of contract.

the chairman of the general entertainment authority of Saudi expressed his hope to work with the 33-year-old once he is a free agent.

The letter, however, says that Saudi Arabia wants to use Messi as a launder:

“You are an inspiration to millions and what you say and do really matters. To put it bluntly – you have enormous power, but with that power comes great responsibility.

“The Saudi regime wants to use you to launder its reputation. Prisoners of conscience in Saudi Arabia have been tortured, sexually assaulted, and held in prolonged solitary confinement – often for months at a time – on an industrial scale.

“Women’s rights campaigners, reformist preachers, Shia activists, democracy campaigners, indeed anyone who criticises or even questions the regime can face long-term imprisonment and in some cases the death penalty.

“If you say ‘yes’ to Visit Saudi you are in effect saying yes to all the human rights abuses that take place today in modern Saudi Arabia. But if you say ‘no’ you will send an equally powerful message – that human rights matter, that decency matters, that those who torture and murder do not do so with impunity. The world must stand up to those who trample on others.

“Lionel Messi, you are a hero to millions – please use that status for good. Stand up for human rights and say no to the butchers of Jamal Khashoggi and the brutalisers of peaceful campaigners in Saudi Arabia.

“If Saudi Arabia wants to show the world it has changed it needs to begin real reform, and end the abuse of peaceful activists. Until it does that, its Visit Saudi campaigns will be written in the blood of those they have brutalised.”

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