Lewis Hamilton 'saddest' after small child urges him to save his father from death row

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been at the centre of a debate regarding the growing human rights crisis in some prominent F1 countries for the last few months. The influential Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver has been accused by some of being a hypocrite after his support of the new Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with tactless statements while being at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement at the same time. Hamilton is now mired in another controversy regarding a Bahraini prisoner on death row.

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Bahraini child's letter to Lewis Hamilton hits home

Speaking ahead of the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton confirmed that he had received a letter from a young Bahraini child urging him to intervene and help save his father from death row in a Bahrain prison. The child in question, Ahmed Ramadhan, sent Hamilton a picture of his racecar with the chilling message, "Lewis, please save my father. When I was drawing the car, I felt hope that it might save my father's life,".

London-based advocacy group Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), with whose help the 11-year-old wrote to the champion, have professed the hope that Hamilton may be able to bring the case some much-needed media attention amidst allegations of torture on the prisoners concerned. The allegations include a claim that the prisoners' confession, based on which they received their sentences, were extracted under torture. The group has quoted Ramadhan as saying, "I really hope Lewis Hamilton delivers my message so my dad can come back home". 

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Hamilton promises to not let human rights abuses "go unnoticed" 

The seven-time champion won the Bahrain Grand Prix held last month, but has confirmed that he was not able to take up the case personally with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa after contracting the coronavirus. "I think the saddest thing for me was that there's a young man on death row and when his son writes me a letter it really hits home," he said ahead of the final race in the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. "I think there's definitely work to be done in the background and I definitely won't let it go unnoticed."

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Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Moosa were convicted of murdering a police officer in a bomb attack and sentenced in 2014. The attack allegedly took place in 2011, during protests against the prevailing Monarchical political system in Bahrain. The protesters, who were demanding an elected prime minister and a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain, are said to have turned violent towards the police during the marches. The two accused are members of the minority Shiite community. Bahrain's top court upheld a death sentence against them In July this year. 

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Image Credits: AP