Russian TV: The seemingly noble move is tainted by the fact the very people accused of rights violations in their home countries – like the King of Bahrain, for example – were warmly welcomed by the Queen just last week, at her Diamond Jubilee lunch.
Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne told MPs that leaders linked to such crimes will not be allowed into Britain to attend the summer Olympic Games.
“Where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the UK,” Browne said.
The announcement came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he was hoping to attend the London Olympics, which start on July 27, but that British authorities weren’t too keen on allowing him to.
“I would like to be beside the Iranian athletes at the Olympic Games in London to support them, but the British have issues with my presence,” Tehran’s official news agency IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
The Olympic double standards have caused many to wonder what it is that makes supporting one’s national team unacceptable, while dining with HM The Queen is perfectly fine. For many of those accused of human rights violations did in fact dine with the Queen during a sovereigns’ lunch in honor of her Diamond Jubilee.
Categories: Discrimination, Europe, Human Rights, Sports, UK