Arsenal distances itself from midfielder Ozil's comments on China, Uighurs

[rooster59]

Arsenal distances itself from midfielder Ozil's comments on China, Uighurs

 

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Norwich City v Arsenal - Carrow Road, Norwich, Britain - December 1, 2019 Arsenal's Mesut Ozil REUTERS/Chris Radburn

 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - English soccer club Arsenal tried on Saturday to distance itself from the comments of its star midfielder Mesut Ozil after he posted messages on Twitter and Instagram critical of China's policies toward its Muslim Uighur minority.

 

"The content he expressed is entirely Ozil's personal opinion," the official account of Arsenal Football Club said in a post on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform. "As a football club, Arsenal always adheres to the principle of not being involved in politics."

 

Ozil's posts called Uighurs "warriors who resist persecution" and criticised both China's crackdown and the silence of Muslims in response.

 

"(In China) Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrasas were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet," Ozil, who is a Muslim, said in his posts.

 

The club's Twitter account did not have a post addressing Ozil's comments as of Saturday afternoon.

 

But replies to Arsenal's Weibo post were angry, with one showing a shredded Ozil soccer jersey next to a pair of scissors and others demanding he be expelled from the club.

 

A search on Weibo for the hashtag translatable as "Ozil issues inappropriate statement", which had been one of the top trending topics on the platform, returned no results on Saturday afternoon.

 

Weibo frequently censors discussion of sensitive topics, particularly amid a push by Beijing to clean up its internet.

 

The United Nations and human rights groups estimate that between 1 million and 2 million people, mostly ethnic Uighur Muslims, have been detained in harsh conditions in Xinjiang as part of what Beijing calls an anti-terrorism campaign.

China has repeatedly denied any mistreatment of Uighurs.

 

(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-15

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[steve187]

good for him

[roquefort]

Footballer expressing an opinion.........there's a rarity. Good for him.

 

And shame on Arsenal, grovelling on Weibo to "distance themselves" from his comments. Protecting their commercial interests in China more like.

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Arsenal distances itself from midfielder Ozil's comments on China, Uighurs

Cowards. 

[blazes]

It would make the Kraut's opinion a bit more authentic if he had also pointed out that the Chinese persecute loads of Catholics for their sins of being Christian! 

 

Perhaps Özil could contribute some of his £350,000 per week salary to help those trying to get human rights recognised in China?

[champers]

Arsenal v City game has been pulled from Chinese TV. They can now watch Wolves v Spurs instead.

Good on Ozil, shame on Arsenal. Maybe Arsenal should have put a clause in player's contracts if they want to discourage free speech.

Too many Governments and businesses are in thrall to the Chinese. They just want their money.

[Hanuman2547]

Arsenal trying to protect their current financial interests and future financial interests in China.  Perhaps Arsenal will sell Ozil to appease the Chinese market.

[katana]

I went to the local Chinese takeaway this evening and the no 10 was off the menu.