After case of Saudi runaway, Australia urges Thailand to release refugee footballer held in Bangkok since November
- Hakeem al-Araibi, who has permanent Australian residency, was detained at the request of his native Bahrain after arriving in Bangkok for his honeymoon
- The 25-year-old fled the Middle Eastern country, where he says he was falsely arrested and tortured, in 2014
Australia’s foreign minister lobbied Thai authorities on Thursday to free a refugee soccer player who has been languishing in a Bangkok jail since November.
Hakeem al-Araibi fled Bahrain in 2014 after he says he was arrested and tortured. He was granted refugee status by Australia in 2017.
“We are, as I’ve said, very concerned about his detention, very concerned about any potential for [the] return of Mr Araibi to Bahrain,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne after meeting her Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai and the Southeast Asian nation’s justice minister Prajin Juntong. “The Thai government is most certainly aware of the importance of this matter to Australia.”
Araibi was arrested on arrival at Bangkok, where he had gone to spend his honeymoon, over an Interpol red notice issued by his native Bahrain for an act of vandalism which he has maintains he did not commit and that happened while he was playing a televised soccer match.
The 25-year-old says that he fled the Middle Eastern country after being tortured during Arab spring protests in 2012, and that he was convicted for vandalism in absentia as retaliation. Australia has recognised him as a refugee and granted him permanent residency, but he does not yet hold citizenship.