Amnesty blasts Beckham’s ‘Qatar is great’ video
AMNESTY International has renewed its criticism of David Beckham after the former England footballer heaped praise on Qatar but ignored its appalling human rights record during an interview to promote the World Cup.
Quizzed by friend and former Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville as they strolled through Qatar’s capital Doha, Beckham commended the country’s hospitality and the warmth of its people.
But the 30-minute film failed to mention Beckham’s £10 million deal to be a World Cup ambassador.
Human rights campaigners Amnesty last night accused the 47-year-old of missing an opportunity to highlight injustice in the Gulf state, where gay people are persecuted and misogyny is rife.
‘It’s glossy and full of footballing anecdotes, but it’s a shame the film makes no mention at all of Qatar’s long history of labour abuses, its shocking criminalisation of homosexuality or in fact any other human rights issue,’ a spokesperson said. ‘When David Beckham secured his lucrative deal to be an ambassador for football in Qatar, we said he ought to use his unique profile to keep the world’s focus on human rights issues surrounding the Qatar World Cup. This feels like a missed opportunity.’
During the interview for Neville’s Sky Bet-sponsored YouTube show The Overlap, Beckham said: ‘Speaking as a fan, I’ve been coming to Qatar now for a number of years.
‘I’ve seen the hospitality, the warmth of the people.
‘We talk about football being for everybody, we talk about the World Cup being for everybody and this is the first time the World Cup is being hosted in this region and that is an incredible moment.
‘To be able to see the likes of [Lionel] Messi, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, all of these players they look up to, it is going to inspire so many different generations. This is going to be an incredible experience.’
It is not known when the interview, which secured 500,000 views on the day it was posted, was conducted. Sky Bet declined to comment on whether it funded the trip.