How a refugee footballer’s honeymoon turned into an extradition nightmare

Source: CNBC, 13/02/2019

Araibi fled Bahrain in 2014 after being accused of vandalism
during the 2011 Arab Spring protests and sentenced in absentia to
10 years in prison. He denies the charges and has lived as a
refugee in Australia ever since.
The Middle East nation calls him a fugitive; Araibi said he would
be tortured if he were sent back there.
“It was a big surprise when I arrived at Bangkok airport,” Araibi
told Reuters.
REFUGEE STATUS
Araibi had contacted Australia’s Home Affairs department, the
agency responsible for his refugee status, before his honeymoon
and was assured that it was safe to travel, said Fatima Yazbek, a
rights activist who has been in close touch with the couple.
Australian Home Affairs officials did not immediately comment.
But as the couple’s flight took off from Melbourne, where Araibi
plays for the Pascoe Vale football club, an Interpol notification
went out alerting both Bahrain and Thailand of his movements.
Thai authorities say they acted on the alert from Interpol
Australia and an extradition request hours later by Bahrain, which
had put out the red notice weeks before on Nov. 8 - the same day
the couple was granted Thai visas from the embassy in Australia.
“The authorities knew his seat number and had a copy of the
(Bahraini) passport that he had had when he was 16 years old,”
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, who was in contact with the
couple, told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear why Araibi’s refugee status, which
should have prevented an Interpol red notice, was not flagged when
the travel notification went out. Activist Yazbek says it was a
lack of coordination among Australian agencies.
Australia’s embassy in Bangkok said it was “not initially aware”
that a red notice had been issued despite Araibi’s status as a
protected refugee.
“When the Australian Government became aware of the situation, we
ensured the red notice was rescinded as soon as possible,” the
embassy said in a statement.
That took three days, during which Araibi remained detained. By
Nov. 30, the Interpol red notice had been lifted and the
footballer was told he could soon leave Bangkok.
But the delay proved costly. By the time the red notice was
lifted, Bahraini authorities had contacted Thailand, asking for
his detention and eventual extradition.
SHACKLES
Araibi was detained throughout the weeks-long process, which saw
him appear in court on Feb. 4 with his bare feet in shackles as he
begged authorities not to send him to Bahrain.
The case drew international criticism and a public campaign to
free Araibi gained momentum, spearheaded in Australia by
footballers and rights activists. Australian Prime Minister Scott
Morrison and officials from world soccer governing body FIFA
joined calls for his release.
“The photos of footballer Hakeem in leg irons at the court
prompted a huge, spontaneous upsurge of global revulsion in social
media, making it quite clear to Thai policymakers that the global
campaign would grow and intensify if they continued with the
extradition process to Bahrain,” Robertson said.
On Monday, the Thai attorney general’s office suddenly said it was
dropping the extradition case after Bahrain abandoned its request.
It was not clear when or why the Gulf kingdom changed its mind.
The move came on the heels of a meeting between Thai Foreign
Minister Don Pramudwinai and Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad
al Khalifa on Sunday in Manama, though the agenda of that meeting
was not disclosed.
Bahrain’s foreign ministry said the 10-year jail sentence imposed
on Araibi remained in place and reaffirmed its right to “pursue
all necessary legal actions against him.”
Within hours of Thailand’s decision, Araibi boarded a plane back
to Melbourne, where he was welcomed by hundreds of supporters on
Tuesday.
Araibi said the trip to Thailand was the first time he and his
wife, who is also Bahraini, had travelled out of Australia
together. She does not face any legal issues in her home country
and is a university student in Australia, he said.
Araibi told Reuters he did not plan to travel for a while after
their ordeal.
“Now I am waiting for my Australian citizenship and I am not going
to travel again until I get it,” he said. “I also need the
Australian government to ensure that I am not going to get
arrested again if I travel abroad.” (Additional reporting by Tom
Westbrook in SYDNEY and Aziz El Yaakoubi in DUBAI; Writing by
Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Gerry Doyle)