JOSHUA'S DESERT STORM
Why IS he helping to give the brutal Saudi regime a sporting makeover?
IT is almost certainly lost on Anthony Joshua that his presence in the desert this week has much to do with the influence of a Saudi princess who once ran Riyadh’s Harvey Nichols store and has entertained Theresa May during a state visit. Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan, born into the nation’s ruling House of Saud, has been at the heart of t he desert country’s strategy to splash billion son sporting events such as Saturday’s title fight between Joshua and Andy Ruiz to project itself on to the global stage and prove it is not an archaic police state.
That need intensified after Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist and dissident, was seized, murdered and dismembered with a bone-saw at hi s country’s consulate in Istanbul just a year ago.
Princess Re em a ,44, is the acceptable, articulate, US-educated face of her country whom Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appointed to the seemingly obscure role of Deputy of Planning and Development at the Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority (GSA).
She has implied she was simply encouraging mass sports participation in a country where girls were barred from PE lessons until two years ago.
But foreign registration documents have revealed Princess Reema is a key figure in the GSA’s work to secure global sports events like Saturday’ s ‘ Clash on the Dunes’ to divert attention from the state’s dubious human rights record and reduce Saudi’ s chronic oil dependency.
Working with LA-based lobbying firm Churchill Ripley Group, Princess Reema has discussed the development of basketball in Saudi Arabia with Kobe Bryant, surfing in the state with Sophie Goldschmidt, the chief executive of World Surf League, and has met the commissioner of the National Hockey League. Discussions are ongoing with Madison Square Garden about a ‘stadium infrastructure’. ‘She is a highly effective saleswoman for Saudi,’ one lobbyist familiar with her work said. ‘Sport is seen as the way to redefine Saudi Arabia’s image. She’s westernised and sophisticated. She speaks their language, literally, metaphorically. The title fight is a big win. It puts Saudi in the same place that Abu Dhabi is — moving the conversation on from human rights.’ It is hard to believe Joshua, one of sport’s more articulate champions, is not aware of this. But boxing is not the only sport involved. Days after the fight, on which Riyadh has spent about £38m, the state will host a £2.3m tennis tournament featuring ‘eight of the finest men’s players on the planet’. In January, Saudi Arabia will stage the Paris- Dakar rally and receive Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Valencia for the Spanish Super Cup, to be played in Jeddah at a cost to the country of £30m-£34m a year in three years. It is an inconsequential sum for a state with the biggest economy in the Middle East which has a capacity to outspend the UAE and Qatar as part of what Prince Mohammed defines as his ‘Vision 2030’ strategy. But despite significant social reforms granting women the right to drive, attend gyms and freeing them from needing permission from a ma le guardian, or
Wali, to travel abroad, activists insist events like the fight are a cover for brutal autocracy and a crackdown on dissidents.
Khashoggi’s killing prompted Prince Mohammed to re-deploy Princess Reema in a new role as Saudi ambassador to the US — the first time a woman has been named in such a post — in an attempt to smooth things over.
Scores of women have described fleeing Saudi Arabia to escape virtual slavery and abuse by husbands, brothers and fathers — and then facing surveillance and threats against families or business associates unless they report to embassies in the countries offering them asylum. Last year, Prince Mohammed sanctioned the arrests of the country’s most prominent female campaigners.
The Princess, whose marriage to the Saudi prince with whom she has two children was dissolved in 2012, is gushing about Prince Mohammed’s willingness to ‘listen to the community’.
But her empathy for women in her country, who still require the consent of a male guardian to leave prison, exit a domestic abuse shelter or marry, has limits. At last year’s World Economic Forum she said that allowing Saudi women to drive meant ‘there is now no more excuses on lack of productivity. A woman today can’t say, “I couldn’t find a driver”.’
She added: ‘Please understand the values we have are different. They are not right or wrong and they should be honoured.’
Amnesty International have labelled the fight ‘Sportswashing’ but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said ‘I don’t understand that term’ and when asked about them said human rights considerations were ‘above my head’ and that he had no concerns about bringing the 30-year-old to the state.
‘We are following organisations much bigger than us,’ he said. ‘Every promoter has been trying to land a mega fight in the Middle East for years. I’ve done it and with that comes a little bit of stick because we’re trailblazers.’