CANBERRA, Australia: Australian Federal Police say they did not know a Bahraini soccer player was a refugee who feared persecution when they alerted Bahrain and Thailand that he was on a flight bound for Bangkok.
Police Deputy Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour told a Senate committee Monday the two countries were alerted on Nov 27 almost six hours before Hakeem al-Araibi landed after a nine-hour flight from Melbourne on his honeymoon.
The bungle drew the Australian government, international soccer bodies and human rights advocates into a top-level dispute with Thai and Bahrain governments to gain his freedom. He spent 76 days detained under threat of extradition to Bahrain before he was released last week and returned to Melbourne.
Interpol rules are supposed to ensure refugees are not returned to countries they've fled.