Colin Sheridan: There isn’t enough fade or back-spin in golf to mask the villainy of this enterprise
USA's Phil Mickelson of HY Flyers GC, putts on the 15th green, during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational Series at the Centurion Club, Hertfordshire. Photo credit: Kieran Cleeves/PA Wire.
In November 2017, then Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri visited his close ally, Saudi Arabia, expecting to go on a camping trip with the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. A billionaire businessman and statesman, Hariri was used to a certain degree of diplomatic protocol, which to his distress, he found to be lacking upon his arrival in Riyadh. In lieu of the usual limousines and honour guard, he was stripped of his cellphones and manhandled by state security guards, who accompanied him to his Riyadh home, where he was told to wait - under house arrest - for further instructions.
The following day, live on Saudi television, he read from a script prepared for him by his Saudi friends, and resigned as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, further de-stabilising an already fractured region. The footage of Hariri’s TV resignation would be funny if the repercussions weren’t so serious. He clearly reads aloud words he did not write or endorse, likely seeing them for the first time. Following his statement, Hariri remained in Riyadh for another ten days, during which, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights later concluded in a report "Hariri had been the victim of psychological torture and treatment which may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading.
