January 27 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has issued a statement saying that it is “continuing” to work with FIFA on the detention of part-time footballer Hakeem Al Araibi in Thailand.
Al Araibi is an Australian resident who fled Bahrain in 2014 saying he was in fear of his life and that he had been tortured in Bahrain. He was eventually granted refugee status in Australian in 2017.
Last November he travelled to Thailand and was arrested on an Interpol red notice that has since been lifted. He has remained in custody in Thailand while the authorities deal with an extradition request from Bahrain.
The AFC said in its statement: “AFC Senior Vice President Praful Patel and the AFC Administration are in contact with FIFA and coordinating the AFC’s work with not only FIFA, but other stakeholders such as the Bahrain Football Association, Football Federation of Australia and Football Association of Thailand.
“Patel was asked 18 months ago by the AFC Executive Committee to handle matters involving the AFC’s West Zone to ensure there were no accusations of a conflict of interest involving AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.”
Al Araibi, 25 years old, had been arrested in Bahrain for his alleged role in the 2011 protests in the country with one of the charges against him being that he was part of a group that had vandalised a police station. While his brother had said that he was part of the group, on that date he had been playing in a match outside the country.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in his absence. The Bahrainis want him returned to serve his sentence and have said that his life is not in danger. Al Araibi maintains that he will be killed if he is returned to the country.
In a highly unusual move FIFA have leapt to his defense, effectively turning a civil criminal case into a football issue. While their sudden and (by their previous standards) unusual concern for player welfare off the pitch is laudable, their motivation is likely more political in advance of AFC elections and a number of crucial decisions coming up where president Gianni Infantino is looking for AFC support.
See Comment: Al Araibi and FIFA’s new found politically moral compass
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