London: Awarded a Sport and Human Rights Award by Amnesty International alongside Natali Shaheen, the first Palestinian football player to play professionally in Europe, is BBC football commentator Gary Lineker.
The award was given to Lineker for "his strong commitment to immigration and human rights issues" after he criticised the language used by UK government officials to discuss asylum policy in March.
Following a contentious tweet in which he compared the language used to implement the government's asylum-seeker policy to that used in the 1930s, The Guardian reported that the BBC temporarily suspended the 62-year-old former footballer.
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Some Conservative MPs, most notably Craig Mackinlay, denounced his acceptance of the award as "another self-congratulatory fest of one woke group to another woke activist."
"What I was trying to say," Lineker said to The Guardian, "is that I think we need to be careful with the language we use towards people who have to flee their countries, because of persecution, because of war, and possibly because of climate change, and I think we need to show them compassion, empathy, and kindness."
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Shaheen received recognition for drawing attention to the social, political, and economic difficulties that Palestinian women who play football face.
The author of "Un Calcio ai Pregiudizi," which translates to "a kick to prejudices," is a former captain of Palestine who currently competes in futsal in Sardinia.
According to The Guardian, she has made financial contributions to organisations in Palestine and Sardinia that support the development of young female football players.
Football in particular, according to Shaheen, has the power to "change many things and many mentalities."
