Footballer Mo Salah has been granted honorary citizenship of Chechnya at a banquet held by its leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The Egyptian football team have been based in Grozny, the Russian republic’s capital, during the World Cup, despite it being a long distance from their matches.
Chechnya leader Kadyrov is backed by the Kremlin but is under sanctions imposed by the United States, which accuses him of contravening human rights.
Chechnya is accused of extrajudicial killings and torture, and in 2017 it was reported that the country was putting men suspected of being gay into concentration camps.
Excellent reception
Mr Kadyrov handed Salah, 26, a decree declaring him a citizen and pinned a badge to his chest in honour of Egypt’s World Cup team.
“Mohamed Salah thanked us for the surprisingly warm and good reception, excellent attitude to the team, excellent living conditions and training,” Mr Kadyrov posted on Russian social network site VK.
In the social media post, Mr Kadyrov added that he wants Egypt to return to Chechnya after the World Cup for a friendly against local club Akhmat Grozny – named after his father, who was assassinated in 2004.
Egypt’s football association posted photos of the lavish banquet to Twitter, showing Salah seated next to the Chechen leader, while the rest of the Egyptian team were at other tables.
لبت بعثة المنتخب الوطني مساء اليوم دعوة الرئيس رمضان قادريوف رئيس جمهورية الشيشان على تناول العشاء في القصر الرئاسي ، وذلك في ختام إقامتها بمدينة جروزني عاصمة الشيشان كمقر إقامة وتدريب لها خلال مشاركتها في بطولة كأس العالم . pic.twitter.com/MVxOiCfMfz
— EFA.eg (@EFA) June 22, 2018
Egypt have already lost their place in the World Cup after losing both of their opening matches.
Condemnation
Salah has been urged to explain the situation by Liverpool fan group Kop Outs, which represents the LGBT community, and LGBT fan group alliance Pride In Football.
They issued a joint statement that read: “We utterly condemn the acceptance by Mo Salah of any honour from Ramzan Kadyrov’s Chechnya.”
The statement added: “Mo and all players have a responsibility to uphold human rights and should set standards of behaviour.
“We ask him to return the honorary citizenship as an acknowledgement of the persecution of LGBT+ people in Chechnya.”
When it was once said that a picture speaks a thousand words, apparently not. So here are the words: Regardless of background, ethnicity, orientation, preferences, everyone deserves respect, and equal rights. #RespectForAll
— Ramy Abbas Issa (@RamyCol) June 23, 2018
Salah’s agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, posted a series of cryptic messages online following the banquet, including one which read “fuming”.
Read more:
Mo Salah is the first to be snared in the World Cup propaganda hunt
Mo Salah unable to salvage Egypt’s World Cup hopes
Chechnya is still persecuting gay men. So is Egypt, and Azerbeijan, and Indonesia, and….
Putin is laughing all the way to the bank as Saudi Arabia roll over for Russia
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