Refugee footballer held in Thailand ‘losing hope’

London (AFP) – A footballer with refugee status who has been detained in Thailand for nearly two months over his alleged role in Bahrain’s Arab Spring protests is “losing hope”, according to a global players’ union.

Hakeem Alaraibi, 25, who played for the gulf state’s national youth team, fled his homeland and was granted asylum in Australia where he plays semi-professionally for the second-tier team Pascoe Vale FC in Melbourne.

He was detained entering Thailand for a vacation and held “with a substantial number of other detainees… in very trying conditions”, Brendan Schwab, executive director of the World Players’ Association (WPA), told AFP in London.

“Hakeem is now at a stage where he’s losing hope,” said Schwab, whose Swiss-based union represents 85,000 players across professional sport through more than 100 associations in over 60 countries.

Schwab also urged FIFA’s Bahraini senior vice-president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to “use the power of his office” to win Alaraibi’s release, warning that failure to do so would be “a fundamental breach of his duties”.

Bahraini authorities sentenced Alaraibi to 10 years in prison for allegedly helping protesters burn down a police station during demonstrations that swept the Gulf state in 2012.

The footballer, who played for the country’s youth team in qualifying games for the Olympics, denied the charges, noting he was playing in a match at the time.

Alaraibi managed to flee Bahrain in 2013 while he was out on bail. He was detained on arrival in Bangkok on November 27 for a holiday with his wife.

– ‘Uniquely positioned’ –

The Australian government, human rights groups and FIFA have all called for Alaraibi’s release, while Interpol has faced criticism for initially issuing the warrant for his arrest, which it later withdrew.

The WPA believes Shaikh Salman — who is head of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and facing a re-election contest for that post in April — must do more to secure his freedom.

Alaraibi had spoken out against the FIFA number two in 2016 when Sheikh Salman ran unsuccessfully to be its president.

“Being a member of the Bahraini ruling family he’s uniquely positioned to demonstrate that he is someone who deserves to hold high office in the game,” Schwab said.

“It’s been nearly two months — the (AFC) has not even issued a statement as to what it thinks should occur.

“Inactivity in the next week or two unequivocally in our view makes his position untenable.”

from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2RNNcAw