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Thailand arrests Bahrain refugee for possible extradition

Thailand arrests Bahrain refugee for possible extradition | iNFOnews.ca
In this Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018, image from video, Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraib speaks at Bangkok International Airport, Thailand. Australian officials raised with Thai authorities the plight of the Australia-based refugee professional soccer player who was detained in Bangkok and fears deportation to his native Bahrain, Australia's foreign minister said Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. Rights groups are urging Thai authorities not to deport AlAraib to his homeland, where he faces imprisonment for what his supporters say are political reasons. AlAraib was detained at the airport on Tuesday. (SBS via AP)

BANGKOK – Police in Thailand say a soccer player who holds refugee status in Australia has been officially arrested for a court to rule on his extradition to Bahrain, the country he fled.

Immigration Police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said Friday that Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraib, who was detained upon entry at Bangkok’s international airport on Nov. 27, is held according to law on request from Bahrain’s government.

AlAraib was sentenced in absentia in Bahrain in 2014 to 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalizing a police station, a charge he denies.

He has said he was tortured in Bahrain after a 2012 arrest and fled in 2014 to Australia, which granted him political asylum last year. He has publicly criticized Bahrain’s royal family’s alleged involvement in sports scandals.

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