Australia demands release of refugee soccer player detained in Thailand
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has demanded Thailand release soccer player and refugee Hakeem al-Araibi from detention and return him to Australia, setting the stage for a diplomatic clash.
Senator Payne said returning Mr al-Araibi to his native Bahrain, from which he fled in 2014, would breach his human rights.
The former Bahraini national player has been recognised as a refugee and granted permanent residency by Australia. He was arrested after arriving in Thailand two weeks ago on holiday with his wife, reportedly on Bahrain's request.
He says he was tortured by Bahraini authorities in 2012 and fears torture and imprisonment if he is sent back. Thailand is reportedly considering extraditing Mr al-Araibi to Bahrain, where he is wanted on what he says are trumped-up charges of vandalising a police station.
"Australia is concerned by the ongoing detention of Mr Hakeem Ali al-Araibi and calls for his immediate return to Australia," Senator Payne said in a statement.
"Mr al-Araibi was granted permanent residency by the Australian Government in 2017 in recognition of his status as a refugee. Returning Mr al-Araibi to Bahrain, from where he fled, would contravene his rights under international human rights law."
She said she had raised the case with Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and asked that Mr al-Araibi be allowed to return to Australia as soon as possible.
Mr al-Araibi was subject to an Interpol "red notice" – a form of international arrest warrant that is not supposed to apply to refugees.
Thai authorities said the Bahraini government asked for him to be arrested and detained. The red notice has since been lifted but a Thai court extended his detention until December 18, according to international news reports.
CNN has quoted Thailand's Immigration Bureau chief, Surachet Hakpal, saying that Bahraini authorities knew Mr al-Araibi was arriving in Thailand.
Human rights groups have also demanded he be returned to Australia. Amnesty International Australia campaigner Diana Sayed said Mr al-Araibi had spoken out about Bahrain's practice of torturing footballers who took part in demonstrations.
She said Mr al-Araibi had spoken of being blindfolded and being beaten on his legs, while his torturers told him he would never play soccer again and his future would be destroyed.
Mr al-Araibi has said he was playing in a televised soccer match in neighbouring Qatar at the time he is supposed to have vandalised the police station. Still, he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years' jail.
Mr al-Araibi plays for Melbourne's Pascoe Vale Football Club.