Bernie Ecclestone has rejected a last-ditch plea for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix to be cancelled. In the build-up to the race, daily protests in a number of villages across the Gulf island kingdom have taken place. That is despite a new law passed on Sunday which means any protester who insults King Hamad will be jailed for up to five years.
Non-governmental organisations
wrote a letter this week to Ecclestone, the teams and their sponsors calling for a rethink on their commitment to the race, given Bahrain’s history on human rights. It claimed if the race went ahead, ‘it will be taking place in a country whose government continues to commit gross human rights violations, from arbitrary arrests to torture.’
The letter follows a similar plea by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain, and an early day motion in the House of Commons, demanding the race be scrapped.
Ecclestone responded to the non-governmental organisations via a letter of his own with a short reply and dismissed the calls for a cancellation.
In the letter, F1 supremo Ecclestone wrote: ‘It is a great shame this was not brought to me before September 2012 when the FIA Formula One World Championship calendar was formed and it is now too late to make any changes to the calendar. I have not received any complaints from any journalists concerning their accreditation to this year’s event.’ Ecclestone told
The Sun.
Protests are scheduled to continue in the build up to Sunday’s race.
Last year’s race only went ahead after Ecclestone and the FIA, the sport’s governing body, had been assured the kingdom was safe for F1 personnel.
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