Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, said he thought the FIA organizers should think twice.
"This seems to be a terrible climate in which to hold what is supposed to be a competitive, festive sporting event. In the circumstances, I don't know who is going to be having any fun," Stork said.
Meanwhile, the government's US and UK-based PR firms continued to make their pitch. At home, local organizers have been sending the official race mascot to schools around the country to gin up enthusiasm for the race.
But overseas media have also shown considerable interest in the story. Media Line reported that McLaren team drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button walked out of Friday's press conference when a reporter began question with, "Sixty people have died in 12 months-- A press handler stepped in before the report could ask the questions and announced, "They've got to go-- ushering them out of the room. The team is 40%-owned by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund.
The ambivalence of the drivers is exemplified by sports commentator Damon Hill, the 1996 Formula One champion. In early April, he told the British newspaper, The Guardian, he had misgivings about the race. "It would be a bad state of affairs, and bad for Formula One, to be seen to be enforcing martial law in order to hold the race. That is not what this sport
should be about."
But a day after the FIA decision he changed his mind.
"All the arguments have been made for and against. Human rights organizations have had their cases heard. No one is under any illusions about the situation. But the less vocal majority of Bahrainis also have a right to get on with their lives and we also have a responsibility to our F1 fans in the region," Hill said a statement issued by a Bahrain International Circuit, the local Formula One sponsor.
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