Egyptian footballer >Mohamed Salah is under the spotlight after criticizing the country's football federation for its poor handling of Egypt's World Cup campaign.
Salah accused the Egypt Football Association (EFA) of ignoring complaints with regards to a "violation of image rights in the run-up to the World Cup".
On Tuesday, a senior official with the EFA, Khaled Lateif, threatened Salah's family, using his mother as bait.
"I'd like to remind Mo Salah that your mother is still in Egypt. You are abroad and can do as you wish. Those who understand, understand," Lateif tweeted just before his account got temporarily suspended.
Lateif's Twitter account has since been reinstated and all previous tweets have been deleted. The EFA official claims his account had been hacked.
Before the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament, Salah got into a >heated row with EFA after his photo was displayed across the national team's plane without permission.
The 26-year-old was left at risk of legal action against him by Vodafone, who he has a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with. The plane, however, was sponsored by rival telecommunications firm WE.
The footballer had initially issued an official complaint to the organization, however, went public after he was ignored. The EFA> insisted it wouldn't meet the 'illogical' requests nor favor one player over another.
Salah's lawyer responds
"We are not asking for special treatment. On the contrary, I would be very pleased if these requests were offered to every player on the team," Ramy Issa, Salah's lawyer and agent, tweeted on Monday.
However, more than one official attacked Salah following his public statements. Magdy Abdulghani, a senior member of EFA, called Salah a "pig" in a tweet sent out on Monday.
"Here is a picture of me with four players and a pig in white," Abdulghani wrote.
His account has since been suspended amid claims by Lateif that it had been hacked.
People stood in solidarity with Salah
"Enough is enough"
"The Egyptian FA doesn't deserve a player with grace"
Mo Salah seems to have had enough with EFA
In June, it was reported that Salah is considering quitting the Egyptian national team over lack of organization during the World Cup.
A source close to Salah told CNN the Egyptian star was thinking about quitting the national team "due to his unhappiness over what has happened in Chechnya".
The football federation was faced with intense backlash for setting up the team's training base in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia.
The camp was deemed "disorganized" and lacked essential training throughout.
In June, Salah >shot to the center of a controversy after accepting honorary citizenship from Chechnya.
The Chechen Republic's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been accused of numerous human rights violations, granted Salah the citizenship at a banquet.