© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy says the FIA is trying to “silence” Lewis Hamilton with its ‘political speech ban’, while a Bahraini prisoner asks him to “fight this policy”.
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) has sent a letter to the FIA regarding their ‘political speech ban’, in which the organization pointed out that the policy is primarily targeting Lewis Hamilton.
BIRD director Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei wrote that the FIA’s policy “appears to be a reaction to drivers, in particular Lewis Hamilton, raising their concerns about the locations chosen for F1 races, including the human rights records of host countries, and making powerful interventions where your own organisation has been silent.”
He added that Hamilton has “used his platform to express support for Black Lives Matter and human rights in countries with problematic human rights records, including Bahrain and Saudi Arabia”.
“Throughout his career, none of the statements Hamilton has made can be considered any more political than the decision by the FIA to withdraw from racing in Russia in the last season due to its invasion of Ukraine.
“In your own statement last year, you condemned the Russian invasion and expressed ‘sadness and shock’ for victims in Ukraine.
“While I applaud this statement, it is clearly a political one,” the letter concluded.
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When contacted by BBC Sport, Alwadaei issued another statement.
“When the FIA and F1 choose to grant races to some of the world’s most repressive regimes, like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, they are facilitating sports-washing and allowing these dictatorships to launder their horrifying rights records,” the statement read.
“It is seriously disturbing to see the FIA now mimicking the tactics of its despotic business partners by attempting to muzzle the voices of critics and advocates.
“Where the FIA and F1 failed, it was drivers like Lewis Hamilton who stood up and called out abuse, and his vocal support for political prisoners in Bahrain shed light on appalling injustice.
“Now, the FIA wants to silence him and others, and punish them if they dare to speak out.
“We are saying to [FIA President] Mohammed Ben Sulayem that this policy is wrong and it must be reversed immediately,” Alwadaei concluded.
This was followed by a letter from a Bahraini prisoner Ali Alhajee, who already wrote to Hamilton ahead of last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
“I would like to share with you the disappointment I felt after learning that political and religious statements were banned by the FIA; a decision that, in my opinion, perpetuates a policy which muzzles drivers and who makes you its primary target,” Alhajee wrote.
“I therefore ask you to fight this policy. What makes you stand [out] from other F1 drivers is that you go beyond the circuit track by acting upon your passion for protecting the rights of others.
“What I felt from your words and actions in previous F1 seasons gave me, and other prisoners of conscience in Bahrain, a glimmer of hope.”
Alhajee also commented on FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“I know that the president is an Emirati and one of his vice-presidents is a Bahraini, both of whom belong to regimes whose prisons are crowded with prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders,” he concluded.
