Human rights organisations furious over Sheikh Salman's reported bid for FIFA presidency
Human rights organisations are up in arms after it was reported that Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a Bahraini royal and the president of the Asian Football Confederation, will reportedly be standing for the FIFA presidency.
Related: Report: AFC president Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa to run for FIFA presidency
Sheikh Salman has apparently received "strong expressions of support from Europe, Asia, South America, and elsewhere," making him the favourite to replace outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The reported decision to run comes as UEFA president Michel Platini finds himself defending an alleged "disloyal payment" valued at CHF 2 million (£1.35 million) that led to FIFA's Ethics Committee provisionally banning Platini and Blatter from all football activities for 90 days.
Related: Blatter: Payment to Platini based on 'gentleman's agreement'
For those working at human rights organisations, such as Nicholas McGeehan, who is the Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch, Sheikh Salman is no better than Blatter, as his family allegedly oversaw a campaign of torture four years ago.
"Since the peaceful anti-government protests of 2011, which the authorities responded to with brutal and lethal force, the al-Khalifa family have overseen a campaign of torture and mass incarceration that has decimated Bahrain's pro-democracy movement," McGeehan said, according to Owen Gibson of the Guardian.
"If a member of Bahrain's royal family is the cleanest pair of hands that FIFA can find, then the organisation would appear to have the shallowest and least ethical pool of talent in world sport."
It is argued by human rights groups that Sheikh Salman, specifically, was responsible for identifying athletes involved in pro-democracy demonstrations four years ago. Some of those athletes were then allegedly imprisoned and tortured.
Sheikh Salman denied the accusations, but the Associated Press (AP) reported in 2011 that more than 150 athletes, coaches, and referees were jailed after a special committee, chaired by the royal, identified them from photos of the protests.
Among those detained were Bahrain's record goal-scorer Alaa Hubail and his brother Mohammed Hubail, both of whom were reportedly tortured and the former was interrogated on state television and branded as a traitor.
"What happened to me was a cost of fame," Alaa told AP at the time. "Participating in the athletes' rally was not a crime."
Those interested in learning more about the pro-democracy protests that were brutally repressed in Bahrain four years ago are advised to watch "Bahrain: Shouting in the dark," a documentary produced by Al Jazeera.