Court to decide on AlAraibi’s extradition

The Criminal Court is set to rule on Bahrain’s request to extradite a former member of its national football team today, a senior police chief said.

Immigration Bureau commissioner, Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, said the Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Hakeem AlAraibi yesterday, and that later today, immigration officers will escort him to court, which will decide on whether to extradite him to Bahrain or deport him back to Australia.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate said if the court decides to extradite him, the process is expected to take about 90 days.

AlAraibi was stopped by the immigration police on Nov 27 after arriving in Bangkok from Australia for a vacation with his wife following a request from Bahrain, who had convicted AlAraibi in absentia for vandalising a police station in Bahrain.

AlAraibi, 25, who now plays for semi-professional club Pascoe Vale FC in Melbourne, has said that he was arrested and beaten at the start of the Arab Spring protests in 2012, and was granted refugee status by Australia five years later.

He said that he was not in Bahrain at the time of the alleged offence.

The attorney-general’s office on Friday submitted AlAraibi’s extradition case to the Criminal Court on behalf of Bahrain, because there is an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the Gulf state for him.

Pol Lt Gen Surachate said that AlAraibi can ask his lawyer to petition the court, and insisted that his basic human rights will be protected under Thai laws.

Human rights activists and the National Human Rights Commission have called on the Thai government not to extradite AlAraibi to Bahrain.

The Federation of International Football Association issued a call last week for AlAraibi’s release and for “Thai authorities to allow [AlAraibi] to return to Australia ... at the earliest possible moment”.