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Refugee footballer fights extradition to Bahrain

Agency Report by Agency Report
December 11, 2018
in Top News
Refugee footballer fights extradition to Bahrain

Hakeem Al-Araibi, 25

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A Bahraini footballer is facing extradition from Thailand, despite international calls for his release.

Hakeem Al-Araibi, 25, who holds refugee status in Australia, was detained in Bangkok last month on an Interpol warrant put out by Bahrain.

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He was sentenced in Bahrain for vandalism but denies the charges.

Australia, football’s governing body Fifa and rights groups have condemned his arrest as there are fears for his safety if he is sent back to Bahrain.

Mr Al-Araibi claims he will be tortured if extradited.

The footballer fled to Australia in 2014 where he was granted political asylum last year and plays for Melbourne football club Pascoe Vale.

He was on a holiday in Thailand when authorities detained him at a Bangkok airport on 27 November.

On Tuesday he appeared at a Bangkok court where his detention was extended for 60 days.
Why is he wanted?

In 2014, Hakeem Al-Araibi was sentenced in absentia in Bahrain to 10 years in prison for vandalising a police station.
His home country’s embassy in Thailand said on Twitter the footballer was wanted “for security cases”.

The former member of Bahrain’s national soccer team denies all allegations.

“If I am deported to Bahrain, don’t forget me, and if once I’m there you hear me saying things, don’t believe me,” he wrote on Facebook last week.

“I know what will happen to me and I know I will be tortured to confess things that I have never done.”
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Mr Al-Araibi told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that if sent back to Bahrain his life would be in danger and that he had already been tortured there following Arab Spring protests in 2012.

He has been a vocal critic of Bahraini authorities and HRW says he is also targeted because of his brother’s political activism.

What is Australia doing?

Australia says it is in high level diplomatic talks with Thailand, seeking the football player’s safe return.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said her country was “concerned by the ongoing detention of Mr Hakeem Al-Araibi and calls for his immediate return to Australia”.

Australia’s Football Federation and international governing body Fifa have both also called for his release.
Melbourne club Pascoe Vale sent an open letter to the Thai prime minister asking for their player to be protected “as a recognised refugee in Australia”.

READ ALSO: River Plate beat Boca Juniors to snatch Copa Libertadores glory in Madrid

“He should not be forcibly returned to Bahrain, a country from which he has escaped persecution and fears return,” the letter urges.

The club also posted a video message from the player speaking from his detention cell in Bangkok.

Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams said Thailand needed to realise “the grave dangers facing” the football player if returned to Bahrain.

Tags: BahrainextraditionFootballnewsNIGERIA NEWSNigerian NewsRefugee footballer
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