Bahrain’s athletes imprisoned, possibly tortured,murdered, missing

Bahrain’s athletes behind bars
Barack Obama has maintained a shameful silence about repression by a Gulf ally.
April 14, 2011 By Dave Zirin

A’ALA HUBAIL is a legend in the world of Bahraini soccer. In 2004, along with his brother Mohamed, he led the national team on a rollicking VCU-esque run into the Asian Cup semifinals. Hubail then became the first Bahraini player to win the prestigious Golden Boot Award after scoring five goals against the continent’s best team.

Now, the winner of the Golden Boot has gotten the boot–he was expelled from the national squad and arrested after news cameras caught him at an “anti-government” protest aimed at Bahrain’s royal family. His soccer-playing brother, who stood alongside him at a peaceful protest across from Bahrain’s shoot-first army and the imported armed forces of Saudi Arabia, was also sacked from the team and put in custody. Both brothers, along with two other players, were handcuffed and frog-marched off the practice field in front of shocked teammates. …more