Australians gathered in Sydney and Melbourne on Friday to demand the "immediate release" of Australian semi-professional footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi from a Thai prison.
The 25-year-old Bahraini refugee has been detained in the prison since November last year, when he was arrested entering Bangkok for a holiday on the basis of a wrongly-issued Interpol red notice from his home country.
The notice has now been withdrawn based on an Interpol policy that dictates red notices are not allowed against refugees and asylum seekers if the alert was requested by the country where they fear persecution.
"This is about showing the rest of the world today how much Australia cares," former Socceroos captain Craig Foster said at the rally in Sydney.
"The feeling of this country is escalating very quickly and Thailand should know that there are repercussions for taking any decision that is contrary to international law.
"This is not just a young player, a young refugee who hasn't seen his wife for two months - he is a torture survivor. This is just not right."
Mrs. Nantana Sivakua, Thai Ambassador to Australia, explained to SBS Thai why Thailand still detains Bahraini footballer refugee.
She said that the detention was carried out in response to the red notice alert received from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau of Australia and the formal request from the Bahraini government for his arrest and extradition.
Even though the red notice was later withdrawn, the extradition process has been activated following the receipt of the formal request from the Bahraini government.
The ambassador said that it will be up to the Thai court to rule if Mr. Al-araibi would be extradited back to Bahrain or not, which the Thai government can’t intervene.
She revealed that now represented by a reputable Thai human rights lawyer and he can argue the case for Al-araibi in order not to be extradited back to Bahrain.
