Arsenal Star Mesut Ozil Faces Backlash In China After Attacking Human Rights Abuses In Xinjiang – TheNigerialawyer

Topline: English Premier League team Arsenal is
facing a backlash in China, one of the league’s biggest markets,
after midfielder Mesut Ozil condemned the country’s treatment of
Uighur Muslims which reportedly prompted local soccer fans to burn
their team shirts in protest.

Ozil, posted a text post to his Instagram account of 21 million
followers on Friday. In it, he criticized China’s detention of
Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group, in the tightly-policed
Xinjiang region. He said: “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.”

• The words were posted against a background of the East
  Turkestan Republic flag, which is the banner of Uighurs campaigning
  for independence for the Xinjiang region from China.
• China accused Ozil of being deceived^[1] by “fake news” on
  Monday and called for him to visit Xinjiang. Meanwhile state
  broadcaster CCTV reportedly cancelled its broadcast of the Arsenal
  vs Manchester City game on Sunday. Online broadcaster PPTV also
  removed the game from its schedule, Chinese state newspaper Global
  Times reported^[2].
• Arsenal, which has 5 million followers on Chinese social media
  platform Weibo, distanced itself from Ozil’s comments, saying the
  club has “always adhered to the principle of not involving
  politics.”
• Ozil is one of the most followed players of an England club by
  Chinese fans, according to a 2019 Red Card report, compiled by
  Chinese digital marketing agency Mailman.
• The Turkish-German 31-year-old earned^[3] $30.2 million last
  year and ranks 57th on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid
  athletes. Before that he played for Germany’s national team, but
  quit in 2018, citing racism^[4] in the
  country.
• The backlash reawakened a controversy about China’s communist
  government using control to its lucrative domestic market as a way
  to pressure international companies and brands into following its
  line on political issues.

Crucial quote: “Regarding the remarks released
by Mesut Ozil on social media yesterday evening on Beijing time,
Arsenal Football Club must make a clear statement here: the content
it published is all Ozil personal opinion,” Arsenal wrote^[5] on Weibo on
Saturday.

Key background: China has faced international condemnation^[6] over its repressive
governance of Xinjiang, which has seen up to a million Uighurs, and
other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities, detained in prison camps.
The issue has exploded on social media after TikTok, owned by
Chinese tech and entertainment giant ByteDance, was criticised for
the way it handled a video by a New Jersey teen, who disguised^[7] an
awareness-raising video about China’s human right record as a
makeup tutorial.

In 2016, the Premier League sold struck a $700 million,
three-year deal with PPTV for the Chinese platform to stream league
games, and China is one of the English league’s biggest foreign
markets. The league has also made strides in recent years to
strengthen its presence in China, being the first European league
to launch an official app there.

Why it matters: Ozil has dragged sport, Europe,
and majority Muslim nations into one of the most political
sensitive issues involving China’s increasingly assertive communist
government. Earlier this year the NBA became embroiled in an
international PR crisis after Houston Rockets General manager Daryl
Morey tweeted in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said^[8] at the time the
league suffered “dramatic losses” in China while the league was
pilloried in the United States, and abroad, for its initial refusal
to back Morey’s right to speak his mind and attempts to appease
China’s demand for censorship.

Ozil’s role as one of the world’s most famous Muslim sportsmen,
and as a star of the English Premier League puts his club, league,
and sport at loggerheads with a Chinese government that is seeking
to extend its own internal censorship regime globally.

Culled from forbes.com

NUJ Warns EFCC over Office of the Sun
Newspapers

The NUJ is worried by the recent developments at The Sun
Newspapers in Lagos where the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission had given a notice to staff of the organisation to
vacate the premises and allow for a take over by the
Commission.

The EFCC said it will enforce a court judgement which ordered
for the seizure of property belonging to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who
was convicted of fraud.

While we appreciate the efforts of EFCC at fighting corruption
in the country but we hasten to caution that any attempt to throw
Journalists out of work for whatever reason in such a hasty manner
is not good for democracy. The media as pivots to good governance
and democracy must be allowed to flourish unhindered. We therefore
urge for restraint in this regard to allow for the appeal filed to
be determined first before any decision is taken.

We are afraid that moving hurriedly to seal off The Sun may be
misconstrued as politically motivated. This action regrettably is
being taken without any consideration to the essence of preserving
vibrant and virile journalism at this time when the profession is
facing increasing challenges. We need to preserve the jobs of the
media workers in The Sun Newspapers by being circumspect and
prudent in this respect.

Shuaibu Usman Leman
Walin Shadalafiya
National Secretary