MELBOURNE: Australia’s left-handed opener Usman Khawaja on Thursday, was charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for staging a muted protest against the ongoing war in Palestine.

“Usman Khawaja has been charged for breaching Clause F of the Clothing and Equipment Regulations, which can be found on the ICC Playing Conditions page. The sanctions for a breach of the regulations are outlined in Appendix 2,” an ICC spokesperson said.

“Usman displayed a personal message (arm band) during the 1st Test Match against Pakistan without seeking the prior approval of Cricket Australia and the ICC to display it, as required in the regulations for personal messages. This is a breach under the category of an “other breach” and the sanction for a first offence is a reprimand.”

The opener earlier wanted to wear shoes with the hand-written slogans “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” during the first Test of the three-match series against Pakistan at Perth.

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But Pakistan-born Khawaja, who is Muslim, was told that it flouted ICC rules on messages that relate to politics, religion or race.

When Cricket Australia (CA) expressed their hopes that the opener would uphold the rules, Usman Khawaja covered the slogans with a semi-transparent tape.

However, the words written on his shoes remained partially visible — only in close-up — in the colour of the Palestinian flag.

Later, Khawaja donned a black armband to show solidarity with Palestine.

He also spoke to Fox Cricket before going on to bat and criticised ICC’s “inconsistent ruling” while asserting that some players have previously been approved to show personal messages that surrounded topics of politics, religion or race.

“I just think that so much has happened in the past that sets a precedent,” Usman Khawaja told Fox Cricket.

“Other guys that have religious things on their equipment, under the ICC guidelines that’s not technically allowed, but the ICC never says anything on that,” he added.

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