The world witnessed Saudi Arabia’s Justice Minister Walid Al-Samaani sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki on 21 May 2025 in Tokyo. The agreement aimed at boosting judicial cooperation, improving legal capacity, and strengthening collaboration on legislation and dispute resolution between the two nations. To the casual observer, this could appear to be a step in the right direction—proof that Saudi Arabia is reforming, modernizing, and taking an active role in joining the international community of law.
With the FIFA World Cup 2034 now going to be held in Saudi Arabia, this PR spectacle cannot go unchallenged. A country that consistently disrespects basic human rights, silences dissent, criminalizes LGBTQ+ identities, and enforces gender discrimination cannot be rewarded with one of the most desirable sports events in the world. The time is now. Saudi Arabia has to be stopped from hosting the FIFA World Cup 2034.
Judicial PR and Reality on the Ground
Saudi authorities were quick to boast of their new alliance with Japan as a sign of openness and reform. Al-Samaani appreciated such moves as video and audio recording of court sessions, publication of judicial verdicts, and new “specialized legislation.” Such measures may ring well, but fall short in comparison to the real judicial repression that continues.
Saudi courts continue to operate under a system with few due process protections. Detainees can be held for several months before being tried, confessions obtained through torture routinely are admissible, and independent representation is the exception.
Trials routinely are closed, especially for political detainees. And even as the Kingdom insists it’s reforming, floggings, amputations, and executions are still used — in some cases, for nonviolent offenses like activism or “morality” violations. Saudi Arabia’s definition of judicial reform is not justice — it’s making repression appear legit through bureaucracy and PR.
The Larger Pattern: Sportswashing and Global Distraction
Saudi Arabia’s judiciary is only one aspect of a much larger trend. Over the past decade, the Kingdom has made a massive public relations push to reposition itself as a progressive, cutting-edge nation. The push has included massive investments in:
- Hosting international sporting events (Formula One, WWE, boxing, esports).
- Purchasing football clubs like Newcastle United.
- Building futuristic mega-cities like NEOM.
- Rolling out glitzy entertainment and tourism schemes.
- The crown jewel of this strategy is the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
But beneath these shiny headlines is another story — one of mass surveillance, censorship, mass killings, gender-based discrimination, forced labor, and suppression of dissent. Human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported serious abuses, including:
- The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
- Arrest and imprisonment of women’s rights activists, some of whom were tortured while in detention.
- Systemic abuse of migrant workers, especially in sectors like construction and domestic work.
- Mass executions, including children and those who were convicted after staged trials.
- Criminalization of LGBTQ identities typically results in arrest, flogging, or death.
- No amount of sports diplomacy will erase these facts.
FIFA’s Responsibility: Values vs. Money
FIFA claims that it maintains integrity, respect, and human rights. According to its own Human Rights Policy adopted in 2017, FIFA is bound to “respect human rights by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.” FIFA even claims that “bidding countries will be assessed in their respect for respecting human rights.”
So, what went wrong?
The choice of awarding the World Cup in 2034 to Saudi Arabia discredits all that FIFA pretends to represent. It sends a terrible signal to repressive governments: that, by spending on stadiums, supercities, and star endorsers, they can effectively purchase silence over human rights concerns.
Let us not forget Qatar’s 2022 backlash for treating migrant workers and LGBTQ+ individuals in the manner they did. And now, we are going to see an even worse regime, with an even worse human rights record, host the tournament ten years from now.
The Silence of Allies: Japan’s Missed Opportunity
Japan’s decision to sign judicial cooperation with Saudi Arabia is arriving at a sensitive time. Rather than using the MoU as a moment to condemn justice, freedom of speech, and respect for due process, the arrangement was received in its entirety as capacity-building and legal innovation.
This kind of diplomatic silence contributes to making authoritarianism more palatable.
Japan, a democracy with an advanced legal system, had the opportunity to criticize its partner for violating human rights. The signing of the MoU will instead continue to benefit Saudi Arabia as evidence that it is a trustworthy global partner — even in terms of justice.
This is how authoritarian regimes gain more legitimacy: by collecting sign-ons from powerful allies and diverting from what they are doing domestically.
The Global Call: Bar Saudi Arabia from Hosting the World Cup
Let us not give Saudi Arabia the chance to host the World Cup in 2034. Let us not send a chilling message: that the world is prepared to blind itself to torture, killings, gender inequality, and censorship in favor of stadiums, sponsorships, and spectacle.
This shall not stand.
We urge:
- FIFA to remove Saudi Arabia’s hosting rights until the Kingdom complies with global human rights standards.
- National football associations are to boycott the 2034 competition if it is held in Saudi Arabia.
- Sponsors and broadcasters are to withdraw support for the tournament unless conditions fundamentally change.
- Activists, fans, and sportspeople worldwide to joining their voices and calling for accountability.
- Sports must be a platform for dignity and unity, not propaganda.
No World Cup Without Human Rights
The FIFA World Cup is more than a competition. It’s a flag of universal humanity, of fair play, and worldwide inclusion. To give this platform to a regime that executes children, imprisons protesters, and practices systemic intolerance is to violate those values.
Saudi-Japan judicial MoU may lead some to believe that the Kingdom is changing. But we know. A country cannot sign its brutality away in ink on paper. The transformation must be real, transparent, and justice must be for all, not just for the sake of appearances. Until then, Saudi Arabia doesn’t deserve to host the FIFA World Cup.