El-Ahly AFC Ultras, image via Wikimedia CommonsBESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,116, March 19, 2019
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Middle East soccer fans played an important role in the 2011 popular revolts. Regimes across the region are determined to ensure that they will not have another such opportunity.
Ali Issa Ahmad, a British soccer fan, lingered in jail in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year for wearing a Qatari soccer jersey during the 2019 Asian Cup (which Qatar State won). Ahmad, who could have been sentenced to years in prison for supporting the wrong team in the eyes of the UAE, was released …read more
In Mideast Protests, Ultras Are Down but Not Out
