ISSF expresses concerns for the escalation of dispute between Kuwaiti Government and the sport world
The International Shooting Sport Federation - ISSF - notes with greatest concern that ANOC President and long-time IOC member Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah (“Sheikh Ahmad”) reportedly received a six-month prison sentence from a court in his native Kuwait for allegedly insulting the judiciary.
These very disturbing news appear to be the next level of escalation of a dispute between the Kuwaiti Government and the sports world.
From ISSF perspective this dispute began when ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña prevailed against the Kuwaiti Minister of Sports and Youth, Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homud Al-Sabah (“Sheikh Salman”), in the ISSF Presidential election in December 2014. In the following Sheikh Salman refused to initiate a change of Kuwaiti state laws to guarantee the autonomy of sport in Kuwait despite intensive attempts by the IOC to convince him to do so. As a consequence the IOC suspended the recognition of the Kuwaiti Olympic Committee because of undue governmental interference in sports in Kuwait. Several International Federation followed the step taken by the IOC and suspended their Kuwaiti members in order to convince the Kuwaiti government to take the legislative measures to guarantee the autonomy of the Olympic movement in Kuwait for the sake of the Kuwaiti Athletes. However, until today the Kuwaiti Government did not follow the suggestions by the IOC. Quite to the contrary, this dispute sadly now seems to have reached a new level of escalation.
The ISSF experienced already during Sheikh Salman’s campaign to become ISSF President in 2014 that he showed little sensitivity for a democratic process, the autonomy of sports and ethical behavior within an election process which was displayed by the following incidents which will be discussed and investigated by the ISSF Ethics Committee:
