The NBA is once again facing accusations of sportswashing the human rights record of a controversial regime.
This time the league is being criticized over its existing multiyear deal with the United Arab Emirates’ Department of Culture and Tourism – an agreement that has paved the way for NBA teams to play a few preseason games in Abu Dhabi over recent years.
The deal has also allowed Emirates, one of the mid-east country’s major airliners, to sponsor the NBA’s ongoing in-season tournament.
In a belated response, Human Rights Watch (HRW) hit out at the NBA, claiming the league is ‘risking ‘sportswashing’ the UAE’s egregious human rights record.’
‘The UAE maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward online and offline dissent domestically while fueling rights abuses abroad in Yemen and Sudan,’ read an article posted Tuesday on HRW’s website.
Russell Westbrook of the Denver Nuggets during Fan Appreciation Day as part of 2024 NBA Global Games Abu Dhabi at on October 5
UAE’s Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan (3rd-R) attends the NBA pre-season basketball game in October of 2022
‘The UAE’s support to the RSF, a force responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities, including ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region, comes amid reports of an airbridge between the UAE and Chad to a military-style airfield that the UAE alleges is purely for humanitarian purposes.’
What’s more, HRW accused an Emirati court of targeting 44 ‘human rights defenders and dissidents’ with prison sentences ranging from 15 yeas to life following an ‘unfair trial marred by process violations.’
The Sudanese government accused the UAE in September of providing weapons to rebel paramilitary forces in an effort to escalate that ongoing war. More than 13 million refugees have fled their homes in Sudan as the UAE allegedly profited off of Sudanese gold.
DailyMail.com has reached out for comment from the NBA as well as the UAE’s New York embᴀssy and its Department of Culture and Tourism.
Five years earlier, the NBA was accused of kowtowing to China after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey offered support to anti-Beijing protestors in Hong Kong.
A protester holding a megaphone and a sign stands behind a banner that reads ‘UAE Hands Off Sudan’ during the demonstration
The incident resulted in criticism for the NBA on both sides of the Pacific.
In China, league games were briefly taking off local television as the league lost an estimated $200 million revenue in that market, a source told ESPN at the time.
Meanwhile, Americans became upset over the NBA’s perceived kowtowing to China. Although the league never issued any punishment for Morey, he still deleted the post as then-Houston star issued a statement of support for the country.
‘The only thing the NBA should be apologizing for is their blatant prioritization of profits over human rights,’ Democrat Beto O’Rourke said at the time. ‘What an embarrᴀssment.’
Texas Senator and Houston Rockets fan Ted Cruz also weighed in: ‘As a lifelong @HoustonRockets fan, I was proud to see @dmorey call out the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive treatment of protestors in Hong Kong. Now, in pursuit of $, the @NBA is shamefully retreating.’
