Today’s top-of-the-table clash at St James’ Park between Newcastle United and the Premier League champions Manchester City is a sellout, in more ways than one. Home fans are understandably excited. Since the club was bought last year by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Magpies’ fortunes have improved dramatically. Dreams soar of returning geordie glory.
Yet, as 50,000-plus spectators await the kick-off, how inspiring, how redemptive and how politically powerful it would be were they to band together to observe a 60-second silence. The purpose? To protest about the wretched plight of Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi PhD student at the University of Leeds, who has been jailed by a secretive Saudi terrorism court for 34 years – for the “crime” of using Twitter.
