Australian footballers including former Socceroo captain Craig Foster and A-League champion Rodrigo Vargas have demanded the Australian government and global football community do more to help detained refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi.
They joined representatives from human rights groups, Mr Al-Araibi's legal team and members from Football Victoria and Pascoe Vale FC in Melbourne on Saturday to ask for immediate intervention.
The semi-professional football player is being held indefinitely in Bangkok after being arrested over an incorrectly issued Interpol Red Notice last month.
Mr Foster implored both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to "leverage their status as leading global institutions to ensure the protection of a member of the football family".
"Australia's footballers implore FIFA and the AFC to comply with their own rules of governance to demand the return of Hakeem to Australia," he said.
"FIFA and the AFC have a constitutional obligation to not only observe the human rights of their participants but proactively promote such rights."
He later tweeted, "Hakeem is one of us, football stands with him".
Hakeem Al-Araibi remains in Thai detention and has now reportedly been denied contact with his wife. Source: Twitter @MARYAMALKHAWAJA
Mr Vargas, a former team-mate of Mr Al-Araibi said: "football is about building communities and building teams that protect the members that need help".
"Hakeem is an incredible young man and I have seen his bravery first hand as a former team-mate. The entire football community, from top to bottom, must come together to support him. It is what a real community does."
While Fatima Yazbek of the Gulf Institute of Democracy and Human Rights said, "Australia granted Hakeem refugee status because they are aware of the grim future waiting for him in Bahrain".
"The Australian Government should keep their ethical, moral, and humanitarian duties for the people they accepted to protect."
Hakeem Alaraibi Source: Supplied
The Australian permanent resident was in Thailand for his first overseas holiday with his wife since fleeing Bahrain in 2014 in fear for his safety.
Refugees are not supposed to be issued with Interpol Red Notices requested by the country from which they have fled.
Thailand would be in breach of international law if it proceeds with his extradition.
But his detention could be prolonged for months as he awaits a Thai court decision on whether or not to extradite him.
Earlier Mr Al-Araibi thanked Australia for supporting him.
In a hand-written letter sent to his soccer club in Melbourne, Pascoe Vale, Mr Al-Araibi said he loves his wife "so much" and he is "strong" because of his adopted country's support.
"Thanks Australia for help (sic) me," he wrote.
Hakeem Alaraibi on the field. Source: Supplied
Supporters of Mr Al-Araibi gathered outside the Australian Federal Police headquarters on Wednesday calling for his immediate release.
Following the rally, Refugee Action Collective's Chris Breen said the Australian government needed to reinvigorate its efforts in support of Mr Al-Araibi's.
"Minister Dutton has not spelt out the legal reasons he claims prevent him granting Hakeem citizenship," Mr Breen said.
"Granting Hakeem citizenship could be an important stepping up of the advocacy of the Australian government for Hakeem's freedom."
The footballer's lawyers are demanding Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton grant him emergency Australian citizenship in the hope it would increase his prospects of flying back to Victoria.
Mr Al-Araibi's visa allows him to remain in Australia indefinitely and to travel to and from the country, so long as he does not travel to Bahrain.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne has called for his immediate release and safe return to Australia, raising his case with Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai.
But it was revealed that Australia's National Interpol Bureau tipped off Thailand about Mr Al-Araibi's arrival in the country before he arrived.
Interpol's boss Juergen Stock defended the organisation's warrant alert system from Paris on Wednesday.
Greens Senator Nick McKim says the federal government needs to do more, considering it was an "error by Australian authorities" that saw him imprisoned.
"Will the government do the right thing and #SaveHakeem?," he tweeted.
In 2014, Mr Al-Araibi was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison for allegedly vandalising a police station in Bahrain.
A former member of the Bahrain national football team, he says he was overseas playing in a televised match when the alleged incident occurred.
Mr Al-Araibi has been openly critical of the Bahraini government, speaking about an incident where he was allegedly tortured by authorities in 2012.
