Yemen.. Paralympic Committee denies abandoning participants in Paris and reveals details of their escape

The Yemeni Paralympic Committee revealed the details of the escape of members of the Yemeni delegation (a player and a coach) and their request for asylum in France, while participating as part of the Yemeni delegation in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. This came after the player denied it on social media.

The Yemeni Paralympic Committee is a sports organization concerned with sports for people with disabilities in Yemen. It received official recognition from the Ministry of Youth and Sports in December 2012, and obtained a membership certificate from the International Paralympic Committee in November 2015.

The committee said that the player Naseeb Fateh Mohammed Al-Raoud and his coach Liban Ali Al-Jamai, who were part of the Yemeni delegation to the Paris Paralympic Games, left the delegation suddenly, in order to seek asylum in France or any European country.

Player Naseeb Al-Roud, who has special needs, denied the accusations made against him by the Yemeni Paralympic Committee that he had requested asylum in France, and said that officials in the Yemeni mission had left him in Paris.

Nassib said in a video posted on social media that “the Paralympic Committee left him in Paris after Belqis Airlines was closed and they left for Cairo.” He accused an official of stealing his financial dues, stressing that “he represented Yemen and was defamed for having applied for asylum.”

Sports official responds

The Paralympic Committee published its decision regarding the escape of the player and his coach from the Yemeni mission in Paris in October 2024. The Vice President of the Committee, Fouad Mohammed Qasim Al-Barti, said, “The player and the coach chose to escape instead of fulfilling their national and professional obligations, despite all the support and facilities provided to them.”

He added - in a post on Facebook - "They have insulted themselves and their country and exposed Yemen's reputation to distortion" and asked in condemnation: "How did the official delegation return home in full? And why did the player Naseeb Al-Roud and his coach Liban Al-Jamai choose to stay in Paris instead of returning with the delegation to Egypt?"

He said, "They - the player and the coach - refused to respond to the initiative of the Secretary-General of the Olympic Committee, Mr. Mohammed Al-Ahjari, who provided them with a way to return to Sana'a via Amman," noting that this "reflects the true intentions behind this irresponsible behavior," referring to their departure from the mission.

Al-Barti accused some people - he did not mention their names - of inciting athletes to flee and rebel against their federations and committees, with the aim of settling personal scores and defaming them through lies and falsifying facts, he said.

Paralympic Committee reveals details

The Yemeni Paralympic Committee revealed the details of the escape of a player and a coach from the official mission and their request for asylum in Paris in a report dated October 10, 2024. It said, "It was surprised by the irresponsible actions of the player Naseeb Al-Roud and his coach Liban Al-Jama'i, who left with the Yemeni mission to participate in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, and requested asylum in France.

According to the Paralympic Committee - in a clarification seen by "Yemeni Youth Net" - "the committee provided all the necessary requirements to facilitate the mission of the player and the coach, from travel tickets and accommodation in Egypt, financial amounts covering accommodation expenses and an external camp for 40 days."

When the player and coach arrived in Paris - according to the committee - he began to invent flimsy excuses for complaining and requesting additional amounts allocated for travel costs. Things escalated when they showed their intention not to return with the mission to Yemen, despite the committee’s emphasis on their moral and legal obligations.

The Paralympic Committee said that the investigations "revealed prior coordination for their escape with Nabil Mahdi, one of the general managers of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Sana'a), who was a member of the mission."

blackmail accusations

The Paralympic Committee accused the players of blackmail after they stayed in Paris, claiming that they were left there without shelter, in an attempt to blackmail the committee and force it to send money, and they sent pictures showing them as if they were homeless in the street.

The statement said, "The mission leadership secured housing for them, but they refused to respond to the official who contacted them. When he called them from another number, they said that they were staying with one of their friends, which reveals their intention to seek asylum and earn money."

The statement revealed that they informed the National Olympic Committee of what had happened, and expressed their willingness to cover the expenses of their travel from Cairo to Sana'a directly via Jordan. However, they refused to respond to his messages.

The Paralympic Committee condemned this irresponsible behaviour that tarnishes the reputation of Yemeni sports, and said, "All expenses related to the player and coach during their stay with the mission have been fully covered."

The committee decided to suspend player Naseeb Al-Roud and coach Liban Al-Jamai from any sporting activity and refer them to investigation. It considered the behavior of Nabil Mahdi, who was a member of the official delegation, to be no less serious and was included in the penalty decision.