Serious "doubt has been cast over the wisdom" of Egypt basing its team in Chechnya for the World Cup after Mo Salah was "paraded around a Grozny stadium" by Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. The Liverpool Salah was pictured posing with Kadyrov on Sunday "within hours of his country's arrival in the war-torn region, with his use as a propaganda tool condemned by human-rights campaigners and on social media." Under the Russia President Vladimir Putin-backed Kadyrov, Chechnya "has enforced strict Islamic rules," with numerous reports of "extrajudicial killings and torture in the republic." It emerged on Monday that Salah had been relaxing in his hotel room on Sunday when he was informed "an important guest had dropped in unexpectedly." When Salah went down to the lobby, he found Kadyrov, who asked the footballer "to accompany him to the stadium." Human Rights Watch Deputy Dir for Europe & Central Asia Rachel Denber said, "This is Kadyrov trying to capitalize on Chechnya being a team base to boost his own profile. ... It was 100 percent predictable" (TELEGRAPH, 6/11). The BBC reported FIFA has always maintained its commitment to protecting human rights and earlier this year said that it had "no grounds to believe that the choice of the Egyptian FA to locate its base camp in Grozny will cause particular adverse human rights impacts." However, anti-discrimination organization Fare Network Exec Dir Piara Powar said, "We have raised concerns about Chechnya being a training base for a long time. If you know Kadyrov and follow the way he runs the region, then you knew at some point he was going to try to gain some political capital, and I think he's done that." Amnesty Int'l said that the photo with Salah was "pure sportswashing." Amnesty Int'l Head of Policy & Government Affairs Allan Hogarth added, "Ramzan Kadyrov was always going to see Mo Salah as a walking photo opportunity, but Liverpool and Egypt football fans should look at the reality behind this cheerful-looking photograph" (BBC, 6/12).
