Saudi Arabia appeals against WTO ruling in twist to Newcastle takeover bid

The Newcastle takeover saga has taken a fresh twist after Saudi Arabia formally appealed against a World Trade Organization ruling that it facilitated the piracy of Premier League matches.

The appeal comes as a surprise given the Saudi government initially claimed last month that the WTO ruling had been in its favour.

However that ruling, along with questions over the Saudi state’s role in piracy, have been key factors in delaying the £300m takeover at St James’ Park. The Premier League continues to investigate the links between the Saudi government and its Public Investment Fund, which is hoping to acquire a 80% stake in Newcastle. The independence of the PIF continues to be questioned, especially given its chairman, Mohammed bin Salman, is also the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

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In a letter to the WTO’s appellate body, the Saudi government says it rejects the WTO’s conclusion that the Premier League was stopped from taking action against the pirate broadcaster BeoutQ in the Saudi courts.

It is also appealing against the WTO decision that the Qatari broadcaster beIN, which owns Premier League rights for the Middle East, was unable to obtain legal counsel to enforce its intellectual property rights in Saudi Arabia.

In the letter, seen by the Guardian, the Saudi ambassador to the WTO, Saleh Al Husseini, says the kingdom believes there are errors in the ruling which “it believes constitute serious errors of law and legal interpretation that need to be corrected”.

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It is clearly a high-risk strategy given the Premier League supplied evidence directly to the WTO detailing Saudi piracy. Last month the league’s chief executive, Richard Masters, also said it had been “extremely frustrated” with Saudi Arabia’s behaviour around beoutQ.

“What we want – off the back of the WTO report and our own efforts and those of other sports – is for Saudi Arabia to respond positively to the situation and allow sports rights holders to protect their rights,” Masters told MPs at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

The bad news for Newcastle fans is that the appeal is unlikely to be heard swiftly as the US has blocked appointments to the appellate body, meaning that it no longer has the minimum number of judges to convene. Saudi Arabia could have also appealed via an arbitration process to the WTO that would have been quicker but decided not to go down that route.

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A spokesperson for beIN rejected the potential significance of the appeal. “Having spent the past six weeks telling the world how the WTO ruling was a ‘complete vindication of the kingdom’, curiously Saudi Arabia is now appealing a case they say they emphatically won,” he said.

“Rather than positively complying with international law, since June Saudi Arabia has lied to governments and rights-holders across world sport about the WTO ruling; it has said the Premier League, Fifa and Uefa sent their legal case to the wrong Saudi email address nine times; it has permanently banned the Premier League’s broadcast partner meaning the only way to watch premium sport is via piracy; and now it is appealing a WTO decision that they said they won.

“All the while, Saudi Arabia is essentially trying to pass an honesty and an anti-piracy test under the Premier League’s rules and gain the trust of the international sports community.”