Australia U23 team scrap Thailand visit over Hakeem Al-Araibi detention
Wednesday 6 February 2019 15:51, UK
The Australian Football Federation (FFA) has cancelled plans for an U23 friendly in Thailand in a show of support for detained footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi.
Al-Araibi, a refugee who lives and plays for Melbourne-based Pascoe Vale in Australia, has been held in Thailand since November at the request of Bahrain after being arrested in Bangkok while on honeymoon.
Former Australia and Crystal Palace defender Craig Foster and the Australian and international players' unions have been leading a campaign for the release of Al-Araibi.
The FFA has taken the decision to scrap a preparatory camp in Thailand's capital in protest at Al-Araibi's ongoing detainment.
U23's head coach Graham Arnold said: "Last year, the national team department had put some preliminary plans in place to play against China in Bangkok as part of our important preparation for the 2020 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers to be held in Cambodia in March.
"On our return from the recent AFC Asian Cup we reassessed our plans due to the ongoing detainment of Australian footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi in a Thai prison.
"We are in the process of rearranging our pre-tournament camp in another Asian nation.
"Australia's national teams are united in their support for Hakeem Al-Araibi and we call on the community to continue to campaign for his release.
The International Olympic Committee recently echoed FIFA's call for Al-Araibi to be released. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also spoken out strongly on behalf of Al-Araibi's freedom.
"I've written two letters now to the Thai prime minister and our consular officials and others have been using every opportunity they have to press the case to bring Hakeem home," he said on Wednesday.
"We've also been pressing that case with the governor of Bahrain as well. And I'd simply say this, it is within the executive authority of the Thai government to actually enable him under their law to be returned to Australia. I have pointed this out in the engagements I've had with the Thai prime minister."
The Thai attorney general has since said Al-Araibi's fate will be decided in the courts and not by the Thai government.
Bahrain wants its former national team player returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence that was handed down in absentia after he was accused of vandalising a police station, a charge he denies.
Al-Araibi has said he was tortured in Bahrain after his 2012 arrest and fled in 2014 to Australia, which granted him political asylum in 2017.
