Council pressed to act over Saudi 'sportswashing'

Human rights campaigners have met Newcastle's council leader to demand stronger action against alleged "sportswashing" by Saudi Arabia.

The delegation, including citizens whose family members have been jailed in the Gulf state, sat down with the authority's leader Karen Kilgour.

Political leaders have come under pressure over the North East's links to Saudi Arabia since the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United by a consortium led by the nation's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Kilgour said human rights abuses were "completely at odds with the values we hold dearly" in Newcastle but it was for the government to raise concerns. Newcastle United and the Saudi government did not comment.

City officials hailed Newcastle as the "gateway to Saudi" during a major UK trade mission last year to the Middle East state, which reportedly executed more than 300 people in 2024.

Labour's North East Mayor Kim McGuinness later joined Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on a trip to Riyadh in December for talks on energy projects and other potential investment.

The group visiting Tyneside on Tuesday included activist Fouz al-Otaibi, sister of fitness instructor and women's rights activist Manahel, whose 11-year prison sentence has been condemned by human rights groups and who Amnesty International said had been "forcibly disappeared".

Also present was Lina al-Hathloul, whose sister Loujain was prominent in the campaign to lift a ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia and who was later jailed under counter-terrorism laws, and Julia Legner, executive director of human rights group ALQST.

A list of "demands" made of the council included a call for the local authority to raise human rights concerns with Newcastle United chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to closely monitor "any use of the city and region as a sportswashing vehicle" and to put a spotlight on individual cases.

Ms al-Hathloul, who visited Newcastle in 2023 ahead of Saudi Arabia's national team playing two fixtures at St James' Park, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the meeting was a "good step" and she hoped it was not simply a "tick box exercise" for the council.

While the Labour-run authority has repeatedly insisted it is for the government to take up human rights issues rather than local officials, the human rights campaigner said the council could and should exert public pressure.

She added: "I feel like the council belittles itself by saying 'we can't do anything, we don't have leverage'. There is a lack of political will to push and pressure."

Ms Legner said the council had shown "sympathy and solidarity", but that its representatives declined to have a picture taken and were "not very forthcoming in trying to make any of our demands a reality".

Kilgour said after the 45-minute meeting the council condemned human rights abuses around the world "in the strongest possible terms".

"Such abuses are completely at odds with the values we hold dearly here in Newcastle and as a council we have always made clear that we expect all organisations based in this city to share those important values and we will continue to promote them and stand by our strongly held beliefs," she said.

"However, as I made clear to the delegation and previously to members in the council chamber, it is for the national government to raise concerns around human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, and indeed elsewhere around the world, at a national level."

The Newcastle United season ticket holder added fellow Magpies fans "do not condone human rights abuses".

She added: "They love their football club, as do I, and their relationship is with Newcastle United, and the team who represent our city on the pitch."

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously said he does not care about the accusations, telling Fox News: "If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we'll continue doing sportswashing."

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