Salah urged to explain Chechen photograph

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has questions to answer after he was used for “political propaganda” by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, gay rights and equality campaigners said on Wednesday.

Salah, who remains an injury doubt for Egypt’s opening World Cup match against Uruguay on Friday, posed with Kadyrov at the Grozny stadium on his country’s arrival at their base for the tournament.

Kadyrov’s regime has been criticised for alleged human rights abuses following reports of gay people being tortured and extrajudicial killings.

Kick It Out and Pride in Football released a joint statement, taking aim at Fifa and the Egyptian FA, and asking why Salah or his advisers did not consider the consequences of the photographs.

“Kick It Out and Pride in Football are extremely disappointed to see football being exploited for political propaganda by the leader of a region with a horrendous record on human rights, particularly towards the LGBT+ community,” it read.

“No footballer, particularly one as distinguished and internationallyrecognised as Mohamed Salah, should be used for this purpose.”

The statement raised a number of concerns, including why the Egyptian FA has picked the Chechnya region for its base and why Kadyrov was allowed to visit.

It asks: “Why did Mohamed Salah and those advising him not consider the message his appearance alongside Kadyrov would send to LGBT+ people across the world, including Chechnya, Russia and Liverpool itself?”