Banned football chief Mohamed bin Hammam likened FIFA president Sepp Blatter to a “dictator” yesterday. The 62-year-old former AFC president was banned from the game for life on Saturday following a two-day FIFA ethics committee hearing in Zurich.

Bin Hammam had been accused of seeking to buy votes in the FIFA presidential election by offering cash gifts of $40,000 each to delegates at a Caribbean Football Union get-together in May. He has pledged to appeal the decision.

The Qatari reacted to his ban by publishing a scanned copy of a personal letter sent to him by Blatter in 2008 on his personal blog, demonstrating the extent to which he felt betrayed by the 75-year-old Swiss.

“When you are in a position to lead, the leader usually doesn’t revenge,” he said in an interview.

“This is actually the act of the dictators, and you have witnessed through history the dictators, when they think this or that person is a prominent one to replace him, the first thing they do is execute him.”

Bin Hammam also said that gift-giving was a routine practice in FIFA and that exchanging presents with other members of the organisation should not be regarded as attempted bribery.

“This is a normal practice. I’m telling you again, I did not give any cash gifts to anybody but these are normal,” he said.

Pointing to his wrist watch, he added: “This watch is a gift.”