Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Bahrain bars rights activist from FIFA meeting over settlement soccer
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleA Human Rights Watch staffer says he was barred from entering Bahrain for the annual FIFA congress in the Gulf state, which restricts access to foreign activists and journalists.
HRW director for Israel and Palestine, Omar Shakir, said he spent 18 hours in the airport before being obliged to change his return ticket and board an outbound flight.
Shakir says he traveled to Bahrain to lobby participants at this week’s FIFA congress to ban Israel from holding league football games in West Bank settlements.
Bahrain grants visas at the airport to nationals of many Western countries, but journalists and rights activists have been denied since its crackdown in 2011 on nationwide Shiite-led protests.
— AFP
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