Sweden: Political Attacks Untrue

Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi totally refutes completely untrue recent media claims that have been made about the involvement of his companies in ‘serious crimes against human rights’. These claims included equally untrue statements alleging direct involvement by the Sheikh in particularly heinous crimes. The allegations are wholly false and highly defamatory and appear to originate from sources who seem to think that the livelihoods and prospects of the Sheikh’s employees are acceptable collateral damage.

These claims have nothing to do with the Sheikh and his Companies and everything to do with attempts to gain attention from the media for politically motivated campaigns against the Ethiopian Government. The Sheikh is not a politician but an investor, businessman and philanthropist.

A number of Swedish newspapers have repeated damaging and wholly false claims promoted by those who oppose the current Ethiopian government in contributions to be aired on Sweden Channel 4’s ‘Kalla Fakta’ tonight at 21.30PM.

The Sheikh refutes absolutely the wholly unwarranted claims that are being made about the alleged complicity of the Sheikh and his companies in ‘serious crimes against human rights'. The allegations are entirely false and misleading. In fact, Saudi Star staff members were themselves the victims of a murderous terrorist attack in 2012.

There were further false and unevidenced claims about alleged ‘land grabbing’. These claims have emanated over many years from NGOs and activists associated with those who oppose the Ethiopian government and they were vigorously denied over two years ago. This campaigning operation has been in existence since at least 2012 and is directed at the Ethiopian Government more than it is at the Sheikh.

The Sheikh’s companies in Ethiopia have never been engaged directly or indirectly in the displacement of persons or in human rights violations and all the Sheikh’s companies make considerable efforts to be compliant with the legal regime pertaining to every country in which they operate.

The Sheikh remains committed to job creation, training in skills, fair labour practices, heavy investment in new and environmentally-sound technologies and the provision of top-up social services and other benefits to those in the local communities in which his companies operate.

The Sheikh also wishes it to be known that, while fully respecting the freedom of the media within the law, decisive and robust responses may be expected to the publication of falsehoods, including possible exposure in future (on this website) of egregious failures of professionalism by the media.