OUR JOHN’S EMOTIONAL ROLE IN HAKEEM RELEASE
North Geelong Warriors president John Didulica has described Hakeem al-Araibi’s release as “overwhelming and surreal”. Didulica’s behind-the-scenes role in the emotional process was revealed after the refugee footballer returned to Australia yesterday.
NORTH Geelong Warriors president and Professional Footballers of Australia chief executive John Didulica says he will forever cherish the moment Hakeem-al-Araibi and former Socceroos captain Craig Foster first met after the refugee footballer returned to Australia yesterday.
Al-Araibi fled Bahrain in 2014 and received refugee status in Australia but was arrested in Thailand on his honeymoon in November after an Interpol notice issued at Bahrain’s request.
The 25-year-old spent more than 70 days in a Thai jail but Foster’s advocacy and campaigning to free him gained global attention.
Earlier this week, the Thai government freed al-Araibi after Bahrain dropped its bid to have him extradited, and yesterday he walked through airport gates to loud cheers and a group of friends and supporters as well as a throng of media.
Didulica described the moments after the player walked through the gates as a “cocktail of emotions” and paid tribute to Foster and alAraibi.
“It is a bit overwhelming and surreal, and the whole situation was surreal to see what we have seen over the past two months, so it is a real cocktail of emotions,” Didulica said.
“We waited for him in the private room at the airport and we got to spend 15 or 20 minutes with him before he addressed the media and it was like seeing a footballer return from injury.
“He tried to convince us that he was ready to play and wanted to get back on the pitch as soon as possible with his teammates.
“It was a really humbling experience to see somebody who has been through what he has been through, basically three months sleeping on a concrete floor with 50 other people and not knowing from day to day whether he would live to see another day, and he just wanted to get back on a football pitch.
“It was quite sobering on one hand and exhilarating on the other, and a really incredible experience to be there to share that with Craig Foster and Hakeem, and see two people whose lives have intersected in a really special way. They had never met before this ordeal commenced and to see the depth of emotion between the two was really moving.”
Didulica’s work behind the scenes as chief executive of the PFA to helping free al-Araibi has gone somewhat unnoticed and he also played a crucial role in helping assist his wife financially and administratively while she waited for him to be freed.
But he reiterated Foster’s position that the campaign was never about one person, and said it was a humbling experience to see so many people join to fight injustice.
“Between the local clubs, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ‘Fozzy’ (Foster) and all the global sports organisations working overseas, we were just proud to be one of many organisations working on this,” he said.
“It certainly wasn’t one person or organisation that drove this, I think it was a real tribute to a whole host of likeminded people and groups coming together and seeing injustice and seeking to remedy it.”