A cross-party group of 30 UK parliamentarians has called on Formula 1 to “leverage Bahrain into respecting human rights”. The letter urges F1 bosses to “implement their human rights policy”. “We write to express concern that the Bahrain Grand Prix is exploited by Bahrain’s government to ‘sportswash’ their human rights record,” it adds. A spokesperson for the Bahrain government said it “takes the protection of its citizens’ human rights and freedom of expression extremely seriously” and has a “zero-tolerance policy towards mistreatment of any kind”. A Bahrain government spokesperson said in a statement: “The government of Bahrain takes the protection of its citizens’ human rights and freedom of expression extremely seriously, and this is explicitly protected by Bahrain’s constitution.

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