THE Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird) slammed Fifa yesterday for adding a “human rights abuser to their profile” after Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa passed their presidential candidacy integrity check.

Khalifa has been accused of being complicit in the detention of footballers and other athletes while head of the Bahrain Football Association.

He allegedly dobbed in athletes who had joined pro-democracy protests in the Gulf monarchy in 2011. They were savagely tortured and the protests drowned in blood with the help of Saudi troops.

And with Khalifa now officially in the running to succeed the suspended Sepp Blatter, Bird say that their attempts to help clean up Fifa have “fallen on deaf ears.”

Director of advocacy Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said: “Fifa wants a blank slate from corruption, so we were keen to help them with the submission of our evidence.

“Yet it has fallen on deaf ears. Today’s decision is a black mark on the world of football.

“It seems there is no end to the corruption in Fifa and they have just added human rights abuser to their profile.”

Alwadaei’s comments were backed up by executive director Husain Abdulla, who called the checks a “farce.”

He said: “The lie here is Fifa’s commitment to reform. It does not make sense for an organisation caught in scandal to then allow a man with a record like Sheikh Salman’s to run for its leadership.

“Fifa has completely missed the mark today and its integrity checks have been exposed as a farce.”

Fifa did exclude Liberian Football Association chief Musa Bility from the election for failing the integrity checks but Amnesty International urged the world’s football governing body to be “extremely diligent” when checking each candidate and that it would be “disturbing” if the claims against Khalifa, who insists they are “nasty lies,” were indeed true.

Amnesty spokesperson Naomi Westland told the Star: “Bahrain has a terrible human rights record, and has even seen protests around sporting events like Bahraini Grand Prix crushed, with peaceful protesters jailed.

“Claims that Khalifa has himself been directly involved in targeting pro-democracy protesters are very worrying and it would be extremely disturbing if there is any truth to these claims.

“After a succession of crises, the last thing world football needs is another scandal involving human rights and we urge Fifa to be extremely diligent in checking the background of all the presidential candidates.”