Bahraini Football Player Moved To Jail Before Extradition Hearing

[webfact]

Bahraini Football Player Moved To Jail Before Extradition Hearing

(Video)

By Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

 

Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraibi led in handcuffs at the Thai Criminal Court.

 

BANGKOK — A Bahraini football player and political refugee has been placed in prison after the Criminal Court extended his detention another two months in anticipation of a drawn-out battle over an extradition request by his homeland.

 

Court proceedings to weigh Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali AlAraibi’s extradition to Bahrain, where he alleges past torture and persecution if returned, could drag on for months. Today, the court authorized 60 days of custody in the Bangkok Remand Prison for the man who just over a year ago was granted political asylum by Australia.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/courts/2018/12/11/bahraini-football-player-moved-to-jail-before-extradition-hearing-video/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2018-12-11

[Oziex1]

Come on Aus, what are you doing. Are we going to let this guy rot. 

[Lungstib]

Disgusting. The man has a country that wants him. They have asked for him to be sent back to Australia where he has refugee status. Why take on the time, expense and bother of holding him? Where is the compassion and empathy of Buddhism?

[agudbuk]

Why didn't he stay in Australia?

[Cadbury]

3 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

Come on Aus, what are you doing. Are we going to let this guy rot. 

Get a peak at that evil looking so and so that's got hold of him.

The Australian Ambassador should be banging on the door of the Thai government but like most lazy self serving diplomats they would be busy swanning around the cocktail party circuit glad-handing and making big fellas of themselves. 

Take note Australian citizens living in Thailand! This is how your country might support you in your hour of need. 

[DrJack54]

39 minutes ago, agudbuk said:

Why didn't he stay in Australia?

Because he was told by au government he was able to travel no problem. That's why, your point is he needs never leave au. The red flag notice should never have been in place and is now been removed. Absolutely ridiculous that Thai have not released him to return to Australia. Complete assup stuff up by Thai legal system. Hey but what's new. Maybe should have a bidding war to see which country he is sent to.

Edited December 11, 2018 by DrJack54
Error

[agudbuk]

Because he was told by au government he was able to travel no problem. That's why, your point is he needs never leave au. The red flag notice should never have been in place and is now been removed. Absolutely ridiculous that Thai have not released him to return to Australia. Complete assup stuff up by Thai legal system. Hey but what's new. Maybe should have a bidding war to see which country he is sent to.

http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/news3/6886/97217-The-Case-of-Mr.-Hakeem-Ali-Mohamed-Ali-Al-Oraibi,.html

[agudbuk]

http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/news3/6886/97217-The-Case-of-Mr.-Hakeem-Ali-Mohamed-Ali-Al-Oraibi,.html

Red warrant from Interpol. Maybe Australia dodged the political problems .

[webfact]

Ex-Bahrain footballer may face lengthy court battle as detention extended

By KESINEE TANGKHIEW 
THE NATION

 

Hakeem Alaraibi (C), a former Bahrain national team footballer with refugee status in Australia, is escorted by immigration police to a court in Bangkok on December 11, 2018. // AFP PHOTO

 

THE FUTURE of an ex-Bahrain national footballer, who has been granted Australian refugee status, was left hanging in the balance after a Thai court yesterday ruled in favour of detaining him for another 60 days pending an official extradition request from his native country.
 

Hakeem al-Araibi, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport on November 27 at the request of Bahraini authorities. He was on a stopover in Bangkok on his way back to Australia after a holiday with his wife.

 

Hakeem Alaraibi (C), a former Bahrain national team footballer with refugee status in Australia, is escorted by immigration police to a court in Bangkok on December 11, 2018. // AFP PHOTO

 

“I don’t want to go back to Bahrain – I want to go back to Australia. I didn’t do anything in Bahrain,” the 25-year-old said before being escorted to court. The extradition process could be lengthy and complicated – al-Araibi could be detained in Thailand for a longer period than anticipated and the trial verdict is unpredictable.

 

The court, meanwhile, said the arrest was legitimate because it had been requested by its Bahraini counterpart, which accused the footballer of crimes involving arson, illegal gathering and possession of inflammable objects in 2012. 

 

Al-Araibi fled to Australia and was granted refugee status last year. However, he was convicted in absentia in 2014 on charges of vandalising a police station in the Gulf state, even though al-Araibi insists he was playing a match overseas at the time of the alleged offence. 

 

The Australian government and human rights organisations have, meanwhile, called for his release, with the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne calling for his “immediate return”. The Australian ambassador to Thailand has also raised the issue with the Thai immigration bureau, demanding that al-Araibi be released immediately as he is protected under the United Nations refugee treaty.

 

They fear that he may suffer torture if he is extradited to Bahrain. The footballer has said that he was arrested and beaten at the start of the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain in 2012 and was granted refugee status in Australia five years later. He now plays for the semi-professional club Pascoe Vale FC in Melbourne.

 

Bahraini soccer player with Australian refugee status Hakeem Al-Araibi (L) speask to the media as he is escorted into the Criminal Court by authorities in Bangkok, Thailand, 11 December 2018.// EPA-EFE PHOTO

 

According to AFP, al-Araibi begged for the court proceedings to be halted before entering the court building yesterday. 

“Immigration Thailand and immigration Bahrain are working together to send me back to Bahrain.

 

But Australia is stopping them. Please stop them!” al-Araibi was quoted as saying. “I don’t want to go back to Bahrain – I want to go back to Australia. I didn’t do anything in Bahrain. I’m a refugee in Australia.”

 

Officials from the Australian Embassy were also present at court yesterday. 

 

His lawyer Nadthasiri Bergman told reporters she believes there is a good chance he will not be extradited because she has evidence he will face abuses back in his home country. 

 

As she countered the public prosecutors’ request to detain her client for another two months, Bergman told the court that al-Araibi’s arrest was illegal and there was no justification for his detention. 

 

She added that even though the court had ruled that his arrest was legitimate and the next step would be an extradition trial, she would certainly take steps to fight the extradition. 

 

She is also seeking bail for the footballer. The Department of International Affairs at the Office of the Attorney-General has requested al-Araibi’s detention for 60 days in line with the extradition law. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30360205

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-12

[PhilAtUbon]

9 hours ago, agudbuk said:

Why didn't he stay in Australia?

I think that may have been his best option. Particularly before he gets citizenship in AU, and especially travelling to a country where the powers that be have a pathalogical hatred of "political activists".

Ok, freedom of movement - fine. But don't be dumb about it.

[anon537687643]

Will all depend on who the Thais want to show favours to at the moment , fellow dictators in Bahrain or a democrat Aus . Human rights won’t come into it !

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

[Destiny1990]

We should also send them all back to their own region.

[anon537687643]

We should also send them all back to their own region.

“We” and “their” region ? . Well his region is now Australia.. Granted by Australia !


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Zack61]

He shouldn’t have spoken against the ruling family in Bahrain. That wouldn’t sit well with the Thai mindset. 

I wish him the best going forward 

[Zack61]

16 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

We should also send them all back to their own region.

And you to yours. 

[Howard]

Thai sycophants without any respect for the rule of law or human rights. They are showing their true colours although it has been well known for years that they will do anything to get favour with a country, despot, criminal or other low life that suits their own purpose. 

 

I hope the Australian government pulls out all stops to get this victim released. They had no problem releasing a convicted murderer/bikie/drug dealer!

Edited December 12, 2018 by Howard

[milesinnz]

The Australian Ambassador should just threaten a publicity campaign in Australia urging all Australians to avoid any dealings with Thailand and go elsewhere for their holidays. Hit them in the pocket....

[JeffreyO]

1 hour ago, Destiny1990 said:

We should also send them all back to their own region.

Just like you, how dare you leave your region!

[Old Croc]

Australia should send in the SAS and bust this guy out of Immigration detention, and, while they're at it, liberate any other Australian citizens or permanent residents currently held subject to Thai law!

Bugger it, lets go to war with any country that has the temerity to bang up us Aussies!

[wvavin]

In Thailand, any wealthy person or high ranking official says is considered law!

[TMNH]

Who f...g cares what he thinks. Obviously 1st amendment in the US has no place in third world countries....and there is the scum bag zoo keeper who insists that starvation is a way to minimize "meanness". Here's the problem....too many people do not take it upon themselves to say "NO"- this is not the way it should be.

[TMNH]

And I would love to talk with the "keepers", although my thinking is the polar opposite of the sum bags who think that mistreatment of animals is OK.

[TMNH]

Hello Thailand...figure out your moral stances and then once established, take some effort to maintain some integrity- a foreign word for sure.

[ToddinChonburi]

So as a refugee he has a Australian passport ?  free to travel when there is an arrest warrant out for you. Could it be he is really a dumb ass.

[White Christmas13]

2 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

We should also send them all back to their own region.

Racist 

[bristolgeoff]

Don,t know what he did but he was granted asylum in Australia.should have stayed they.if he still had his Bahrain passport they will send him back there for sure.get a aus passport then it may have being different. No comeback now he is not in Australia now and a citizen yet.look  at brother and sister taksm they have another passport of another country and the Thais  find it hard to bring them back.no thai passport now and they have not caught them to bring them back.maybe international law applies to this case now

Edited December 12, 2018 by bristolgeoff

[stud858]

20 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

Come on Aus, what are you doing. Are we going to let this guy rot. 

Probably. Australian government in a mess.  Aussie pollies are lazy and up for the chatter and aren't too concerned.  Their words" if you leave Australia,  you are at the mercy of other countries " or thereabouts.

[Cadbury]

17 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Because he was told by au government he was able to travel no problem. That's why, your point is he needs never leave au. The red flag notice should never have been in place and is now been removed. Absolutely ridiculous that Thai have not released him to return to Australia. Complete assup stuff up by Thai legal system. Hey but what's new. Maybe should have a bidding war to see which country he is sent to.

Unfortunately Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor do they have little time for refugees so I suspect they will do what they damned well please.

Also maybe Thailand has some sympathy for Bahrain as they have commonality in that they are both Kingdoms and the fact that he is alleged to have said nasty things that have offended the Bahrain royal family might strike a raw nerve with the Thai authorities. They might even enjoy handing him over to them.

[taipan1949]

If the guy is a legitimate fire bug and his country has a warrant for him then send him home and if innocent he can clear his name, if guilty then put him in the slammer.

[taipan1949]

4 hours ago, milesinnz said:

The Australian Ambassador should just threaten a publicity campaign in Australia urging all Australians to avoid any dealings with Thailand and go elsewhere for their holidays. Hit them in the pocket....

Oh my, one less drunken Aussie fighting and sleeping on the street. What a loss.