A THAI court has ordered the release of a refugee football player after prosecutors said they were no longer seeking his extradition to Bahrain.
Thailand had come under pressure from Australia’s government, sporting bodies and human rights groups to send Hakeem al-Araibi back to Australia, where he has refugee status and plays semi-professional football.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison praised the decision and said Mr al-Araibi was on his way to the airport.
“Now the next step is for him to return home,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“But as is always in these cases, people aren’t home until they’re home.”
Thai prosecutors submitted to court a request to withdraw the case to extradite Mr al-Araibi to Bahrain, where he faces a 10-year prison sentence for an arson attack that damaged a police station. He has denied the charges and says the case is politically motivated.
Prosecutors made the decision after Thailand’s foreign ministry sent its department a letter on Monday morning that indicated that Bahrain had withdrawn its request for Mr al-Araibi, Chatchom Akapin, the director general of the attorney general office’s international affairs department, said.
Officials in Bahrain, an island kingdom off the coast of Saudi Arabia that is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, said the country “reaffirms its right to pursue all necessary legal actions against” Mr al-Araibi.
Bahrain’s foreign ministry said in a statement after his release that the “guilty verdict against Mr al-Araibi remains in place and Mr al-Araibi holds the right to appeal this court verdict at Bahrain’s Court of Appeal”.
Mr Al-Araibi (25), a former Bahraini national team player, says he fled Bahrain due to political repression and that he fears torture if he returns. He has been living in Melbourne, where he plays for a semi-professional team.
He has said he was blindfolded and had his legs beaten while he was held in Bahrain. He said he believed he was targeted for arrest because of his Shiite faith and because his brother was politically active in Bahrain. Bahrain has a Shiite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.
His supporters had said he should be freed and was protected under his status as a refugee with Australian residency. He was detained at the request of Bahrain relayed through Interpol upon his arrival in Bangkok in November while on honeymoon.
Activists praised Monday’s developments.
“This is a huge victory for the human rights movement in Bahrain, Thailand and Australia – and even the whole world,” Sayed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said.
“Hakeem’s ordeal ended after 70 days when there was a clear public stance and solidarity movement.”
Former Australia national team captain Craig Foster, who has been leading the campaign for Mr al-Araibi’s release, praised all those who worked on the campaign.
“Many wonderful people stepped forward to help Hakeem,” he wrote on Twitter.
“They all deserve to be in front of camera now, not only me. I can’t list them, but will thank each of them in time. My thoughts are with Hakeem’s wife. Her nightmare will shortly be at an end. Our prayers answered.”
