THE phrase a man walks into a consulate could be the beginning of some sort of distasteful joke. But this is no joke.

Back in October 2018, Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi did in fact walk into his country’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey to obtain documents he needed for his forthcoming marriage. He never walked out.

Instead, he was murdered on what a United States intelligence report asserted was the direct order of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Biden administration went so far as to say the crown prince approved a plan to either “capture or kill” what for the Saudi regime was more than a troublesome journalist.

The US was so vexed by the killing that they slapped sanctions on dozens of Saudis but, bizarrely, since they said the killing was a direct order, not on the crown prince himself.

Of course, the Saudis reject the accusation that they had anything to do with the killing.

It would of course be wrong to think that it is only a recent tactic to divert attention from their appalling human rights record. Far from it. This has been going on for years and started way before the killing of Khashoggi.

The Saudi regime has a reputation for being brutal in cracking down on freedom of expression.

Last year the Saudis convicted teacher Asaad al-Ghamdi for a number of offences related to his peaceful expression of opinion online.

He is the brother of Mohammed al-Ghamdi, a retired Saudi teacher, who was sentenced to death in 2023 for some of his posts on social media and YouTube.

Salma al-Shehab and Nourah al-Qahtani were sentenced to 34 and 45 years respectively — again based solely on their peaceful social media activity. Shehab’s posts on X related to support for women’s rights.

Saudi authorities have also been accused of infiltrating social media sites such as X to spy on so-called dissidents and to target human rights activists and political dissidents with sophisticated digital surveillance technology.

New data “protection” laws give Saudi authorities sweeping powers to access personal data. The authorities that control the data are permitted to disclose data to state agencies based on vague and overbroad “security reasons,” which are not defined in the law.

Between March 2022 and June 2023, Saudi border guards shot dead hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum-seekers who tried to cross the southern border with Yemen.

Migrant workers represent 42 per cent of the Saudi population. But these workers face widespread abuse in the workplace.

The Building and Wood Workers’ International Union (BWI) filed a complaint at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the Saudi government over the exploitative living and working conditions faced by migrant workers. This came ahead of the December decision by Fifa to grant Saudi Arabia hosting rights for the 2034 Fifa World Cup.

The Saudi system of “kafala” that legally ties migrant workers to their employers serves to entrench discrimination in the country.

Saudi Arabia’s restrictions on free expression prevent workers from establishing unions and collective bargaining to improve working conditions.

Rampant abuses have been documented in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system undermining the rule of law and international human rights standards.

The counterterrorism law violates due process and fair trial rights by granting authorities wide powers to arrest and detain people without any judicial oversight.

Saudi Arabia does not have an anti-discrimination law. Saudi Arabia’s law on personal status formally enshrines the dominant position of men over women. It also includes provisions that facilitate domestic violence and sexual abuse in marriage.

The Saudi attempt to divert attention from these widespread human rights abuses has led them to make staggeringly huge investments in sport.

They have become one of the world’s most important players in international support by spending billions of dollars on eye-watering deals across a number of different sports.

This is known as “sportwashing” where the Saudis have laundered its reputation by hosting major sporting events that attract positive news coverage while performing the sleight of hand of diverting attention away from its domestic abuses.

A Saudi fund, known as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), owns the LIV golf series and is looking to merge with the main PGA tour, creating a feud now widely known as “golf’s civil war.”

Some prominent names such as Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau were lured to join LIV with large contracts, but others have been far less accepting and have strongly resisted Saudi involvement.

Both Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have been outspoken in their criticism of the merger, featuring as key figures in the negotiations.

The conflict is still ongoing and has involved lawsuits, antitrust probes, and a framework agreement that ultimately crumbled. The attempt at solidifying an agreement rambles on.

PIF also has controlling stakes in Newcastle United Football Club as well as four Saudi domestic football teams — al-Hilal, al-Nassr, al-Ittihad, and al-Ahl.

The Saudis through PIF are heavily involved in Formula One racing — including until recently — the McLaren team as well as horse racing, mixed martial arts and boxing and have hosted scores of events such as sailing’s prestigious America’s Cup.

It has won the right to stage the finals of a revamped Asian Champions League football tournament, the 2034 Asian Games, 2027 Asian Cup and 2029 Winter Olympics, and it was recently announced that the Saudis will host the 2034 Men’s Soccer World Cup.

Saudi Arabian oil riches have injected billions into international sport and are continuing the shift of sport, including many with working-class roots, away from enjoyable pastimes into unaffordable luxuries.

Aside from allowing the Saudis to rinse away their appalling human rights record, the cash they have splashed into sport has also contributed to the growing gulf between sport and working-class people.

The massive amount of cash they have thrown at sport has underlined the profit motive in sport and created an endless competition to find ways of extorting the maximum amount of money that they can out of spectators.

Football matches in Britain have become commercial opportunities rather than a sporting occasion.

In many sports, such as football, many of the very best players in the world have been drawn to play in the Saudi Pro League because of the vast riches on offer, burying any morals they have in exchange for a huge payday.

Saudi Arabia’s human rights track record is appalling, to say the least, with women in particular suffering due to living a life of restriction.

As recently as 2018, women and girls were not allowed to participate in sport at schools and were prevented from attending sporting events at stadiums.

Visit Saudi’s sudden interest in sponsoring the Fifa Women’s World Cup back in 2023 was a classic example of sportswashing, an attempt to mask the country’s continuous cycle of gender discrimination.

Paying sports women and men more money is not being complained of here. Rather it is the change in the motivation to become involved in sport and the ability of working-class families to afford to watch it.

There has been a long debate about how far sport is becoming unaffordable for many working-class families, but it is the extortion of money from hard-pressed families to divert attention from human rights abuses that must also be foregrounded.

We must never allow the use of Saudi oil money to excuse their appalling human rights record. We must continue to call them out and demand democratic change in Saudi Arabia.

Bella Katz is sports editor and Roger McKenzie is international editor for the Morning Star.