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A banner calling on Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour and the club\u2019s fans to help free a human rights activist was flown over the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n
A plane carrying the banner \u2018UAE: Free Ahmed Mansoor\u2019 circled over the ground early on in the Premier League fixture between City and Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Human rights campaign group Amnesty International organised the flyover and is calling on the United Arab Emirates authorities to act. Sheikh Mansour is the country\u2019s deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n
Amnesty also wants City fans to \u201csee the bigger picture\u201d and join the campaign to free Ahmed Mansoor.<\/p>\n
He was sentenced to 10 years\u2019 imprisonment in the UAE in 2018 and Amnesty says he has been kept in an isolation cell throughout his sentence so far and forced to sleep on the floor.<\/p>\n
Mansour\u2019s Abu Dhabi United Group took over City in 2008, a move which has led to a transformation in the club\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n
The club secured a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble last season.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s plane stunt is a way of saying, \u2018Look up from the pitch and see the bigger picture – a huge injustice has occurred, and the owners of Man City are the ones who can right this wrong\u2019<\/p>\n
Amnesty\u2019s UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: \u201cThe UAE has been sportswashing its global reputation through Manchester City while at the same time jailing Ahmed Mansoor and others simply for their peaceful human rights activism.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan City\u2019s amazing success under Pep Guardiola owes a great deal to Emirati funding and we\u2019re calling on City fans to join us in this campaign to free Ahmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s plane stunt is a way of saying, \u2018Look up from the pitch and see the bigger picture \u2013 a huge injustice has occurred, and the owners of Man City are the ones who can right this wrong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other human rights campaign groups have written to Manchester City Council this month, calling on it to ask the UAE government to release Mansoor.<\/p>\n
\u201cManchester City Council has a deep and long-standing relationship with entities controlled by individuals operating in leadership roles within the highest echelons of the UAE government, which places upon it a special responsibility to show support and solidarity with victims of repression by that government,\u201d a letter to the council, dated November 13, said.<\/p>\n
A second plane flew over the stadium in the second half of Saturday\u2019s match, trailing a banner reading \u2018Premier League = corrupt\u2019 as part of a protest by Everton fans against the club\u2019s recent points deduction.<\/p>\n