England’s Premier League has refused for a third time to accept a petition urging it to hold Manchester City’s owner, Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates, to account over his country’s role in the Sudan war, reported the Middle East Eye.
Launched in January outside Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, the petition, organised by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), asks the chief executive, board and member clubs of football’s most popular league to raise the UAE’s support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with Mansour.
The Premier League refused to accept the petition on October14, following earlier refusals on April 28 and May21.
During the second attempt to deliver the petition, security personnel told CSW staff that they had been instructed not to receive anything from them, the UK-based human rights organisation said in a statement.
Manchester City and its owner, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family and brother of its ruler, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, are in the spotlight now after the Premier League found the club guilty of 114 charges relating to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules and a failure to cooperate with its investigation.
Man City was found to have disguised more than £830m ($1.1bn) in illicit funding, and an independent commission’s report referred to arrangements struck by the club on eight separate occasions.