A refugee footballer from Bahrain has been detained for 12 days by the Immigration Bureau (IB), an official said Tuesday, as a tug of war commenced over his fate.
Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali al-Araibi, a former player for Bahrain's national side, was stopped on an Interpol Red Notice after arriving in Thailand from Australia on Nov 27 for a vacation with his wife.
The 25-year-old was granted refugee status in Australia in 2017 and has spoken out about being arrested and beaten at the start of Arab Spring protests in the Gulf state in 2012.
He was convicted in absentia on charges of vandalising a police station but said he was out of the country playing in a match at the time of the alleged offence.
Police Immigration Bureau (IB) chief Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn said Araibi had been remanded for 12 days starting from Monday, to give authorities time to examine documents submitted by Bahrain.
The Australian ambassador told him Canberra wants to get the footballer back, Pol Lt Gen Surachate said.
"If there is proof that the arrest warrant is invalid ... then immigration will repatriate him to Australia," he added.
The Bahrain embassy in Bangkok did not respond to a request for comment.
Araibi said in an interview on Tuesday he believes Bahrain is "very angry" with him for interviews he gave in 2016 with mainstream media outlets about his treatment in custody.
He is being held at the IB's Immigration Detention Centre inside its Soi Suan Plu (Sathon Road) headquarters).
"I'm not feeling well because I don't know what's going on," he said, adding that he feared being killed if sent back to Bahrain.
The oil-rich Sunni-led country, home to the US Fifth Fleet, crushed Arab Spring protests by its Shia majority.
Araibi believes he was targeted because he is Shia and due to his brother's political activism. He also opposed the Fifa presidential candidacy of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a member of Bahrain's ruling monarchy and president of the Asian Football Confederation.
A Twitter campaign is under way with the hashtag #SaveHakeem, while a Change.org petition and a fund-raiser at GoFundMe.org gathered steam.
Araibi plays for the Melbourne Pascoe Vale Football Club, a semi-pro team in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. Football fans can judge the ability of the former Bahrain national team defender from a 6-minute, totally non-political video posted from Australia in January.
He came to Thailand for a holiday before going back to train. The football club has been tweeting out support for the GoFundMe drive in a bid to help raise money for legal fees. Thailand does not recognise refugees as a class, and has faced international criticism for sending them back to countries where they could face persecution - including Bahrain.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the Interpol Red Notice should have been lifted because of Araibi's status as a refugee.
In fact, the Red Notice has been withdrawn by Interpol, but too late to affect the case, according to Pol Lt Gen Surachate.
Once he was detained, the Interpol process was officially forgotten, and the fate of Mr Araibi now rests solely on whether Thailand accepts Bahrain's documents demanding his return against Australia's request to return their documented refugee-resident.
Thailand has no reason to return him to Bahrain "where he will face torture and imprisonment for daring to speak truth to power", Mr Adams said.
- EDITORIAL: Thailand caught in the middle
- Earlier report: Araibi placed in Immigration holding