Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain said he has been "urged" to stand in the election for FIFA president but "wants to gauge opinion from football federations in the region before he decides whether to run," according to Simon Evans of REUTERS. British media reports suggested Sheikh Salman had "decided to run in the election" but in a letter to members of the AFC Exec Committee and the FIFA Exec Committee, Sheikh Salman said that those reports were based on a "misunderstanding." Salman: "I have recently been urged by a growing number of senior football administrators, FIFA members and personalities of public life to become a candidate now that UEFA President Michel Platini faces obstacles on his path to the FIFA presidency." Sheikh Salman had initially backed Platini to "replace outgoing FIFA President Sepp Blatter." But Platini's troubles "have dramatically changed the electoral landscape." The deadline for nominations for the FIFA vote is Oct. 26 and Sheikh Salman "asked for feedback by Tuesday." He added, "Only after reviewing your comments and taking advice from close friends, advisers and after discussing all options with the people most important to me, my family, will I even consider such a major step" (REUTERS, 10/20). In London, Owen Gibson reported human rights campaigners have called on acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou to bar Sheikh Salman from standing in February's election, "accusing him of taking part in a crackdown against pro-democracy athletes in Bahrain" in '11. Human rights organizations had "serious concerns over Sheikh Salman’s likely candidacy, accusing him of being part of a committee that identified athletes and footballers who took part in pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011 and were later imprisoned and tortured." Sheikh Salman "has denied the allegations." In a letter to Hayatou the Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain organization "calls on Sheikh Salman to be barred." The letter said, "In 2013, our organisation wrote to Fifa president, Mr Joseph Blatter, expressing our deep concern over allegations of unethical behaviour conducted by Fifa committee member and president of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa. Sheikh al-Khalifa is a member of the Bahraini royal family and previously served as president of the Bahrain Football Association." In '14, another human rights group, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, wrote to the then Head of the Investigatory Arm of the FIFA Ethics Committee Michael Garcia to "ask it to again look into the issue with specific regard to Sheikh Salman's role" (GUARDIAN, 10/20).
