{"id":23969,"date":"2018-12-02T02:22:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T02:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=23969"},"modified":"2018-12-02T02:22:45","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T02:22:45","slug":"rights-groups-urge-thailand-against-deporting-bahraini-footballer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=23969","title":{"rendered":"Rights groups urge Thailand against deporting Bahraini footballer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Human rights organisations are urging\u00a0Thailand<\/a> against deporting a refugee footballer from Bahrain<\/a>, warning\u00a0he could be persecuted or wrongfully detained in the Gulf country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hakeem al-Araibi, who used to play for the Bahrain national team and now lives in Australia<\/a>, was arrested upon his arrival at Bangkok airport on November 27, based on an Interpol notice issued at Bahrain’s request.<\/p>\n

He had been travelling from Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Araibi, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in absentia by Bahraini authorities in 2014 for vandalising a police station, a charge he denies.<\/p>\n

Two years before that, he was arrested and tortured in detention, allegedly for his brother’s political activities during the 2011 Arab Spring<\/a> uprising, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2014, he escaped to Australia, where he was granted refugee<\/a> status three years later. He now plays for a Melbourne club.<\/p>\n

Araibi has been a vocal critic of the president of the Asian Football Federation, Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa, who is a cousin of the Bahraini king.<\/p>\n

The Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain group (ADHRB) called on Interpol to remove its “Red Notice” for Araibi, claiming it violates the policy of the organisation itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

.@Interpol<\/a> should remove the Red Notice for #Bahraini<\/a> refugee and #Australian<\/a> resident Hakeem Al-Araibi. Its own policy states that Red Notices shouldn\u2019t be issued for refugees and asylum seekers @AustraliaUN<\/a> @AustraliaUN_GVA<\/a> @AusAmbBKK<\/a> @ScottMorrisonMP<\/a> @AusForeign<\/a> @dfa<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ADHRB (@ADHRB) November 30, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, said the Thai government must recognise the “grave dangers” Araibi faces if he is sent back to Bahrain.<\/p>\n

“Thai immigration authorities should immediately release al-Araibi, who is recognised as a refugee in Australia, and ensure that he’s not put in harm’s way in violation of international law,” Adams said.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement it was “in direct contact with Thai authorities regarding this issue”, but declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n

Torture and ill-treatment of activists and dissidents in Bahrain have been documented<\/a> by various rights groups, especially following popular anti-government protests in 2011.<\/p>\n

Thailand does not recognise refugees but often finds itself at the centre of geopolitical disputes over them.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Thailand was heavily criticised for deporting more than 100 Uighurs back to China, where the Muslim minority faces persecution.<\/p>\n

Dozens of Pakistani Christians have been rounded up in recent weeks as part of a visa overstay crackdown in the country.<\/p>\n

HRW said Thailand is legally bound to respect the international law principle of “non-refoulement”, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a country where they may face torture or other human rights violations.<\/p>\n

“Handing him [Araibi] over to Bahrain would be a heartless act that blatantly violates Thailand’s obligations to protect refugees and opens Bangkok up to a chorus of international criticism,” Adams said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human rights organisations are urging\u00a0Thailand against deporting a refugee footballer from Bahrain, warning\u00a0he could be persecuted or wrongfully detained in the Gulf country. Hakeem al-Araibi, who used to play for the Bahrain national team and now lives in Australia, was arrested upon his arrival at Bangkok airport on November 27, based on an Interpol notice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":23970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}