LIVERPOOL DEAL DRAWS CRITICISM FROM AI OVER HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERN

LONDON, May 11 (AFP) - Thailand Prime Minister Thakshin Shinawatra's
proposed investment in English Premiership side Liverpool has been
criticised by human rights group Amnesty International because of what it
says is his government's abuses of human rights.

Shinawatra said Monday he was poised to buy a 30 percent stake in Liverpool,
on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League, in a deal worth some
100 million dollars.

However, Shinawatra, has been accused by Amnesty of leading a regime
responsible for 2,245 deaths in a drugs crackdown last year.

Amnesty spokesman Neil Durkin told Tuesday's edition of British broadsheet
the Daily Telegraph: "Thailand's human rights record has been a particular
concern recently following a government-led 'drugs war' that has seen
several thousand drugs suspects killed by law enforcement officers.

"In one three-month period alone last year, a staggering 2,245 people were
killed according to official statistics. We have called on the Thai
government to allow independent investigations into this worrying wave of
killings."

Steven Kelly, editor of Liverpool fanzine Through the Wind, also told the
Telegraph that the club should stop dealing with Shinawatra.

"There is going to be controversy about it. It's dragging morality down when
the majority of people say 'As long as the team is good, I don't care'."