Bangkok faces backlash against footballer’s extradition

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Thailand faces increasing international pressure for the detention and possible extradition of a Bahraini football player as a social media campaign takes off for his release.

Hakeem al-Araibi, 25, remains detained in Thailand since last November after landing in the country’s capital with trial proceedings expected to resume in April.

He faces extradition to his native country where he is wanted in conjunction with the 2011 Arab Spring.

The Twitter hashtags #BoycottThailand and #SaveHakeem were trending on Tuesday as Thai prosecutors appealed for the extradition of Araibi, according to local daily Bangkok Post.

Asking Australia and Bahrain to resolve the issue between themselves, the military-led Thai government refused a request from Canberra to free the refugee footballer.

Thai newspaper The Nation reported that Football Federation Australia (FFA) cancelled an under-23 training trip to Thailand in protest of the kingdom's continuing detention of Araibi.

In 2014, a court in Bahrain sentenced Araibi to 10 years in prison on multiple charges of vandalizing a police station.

He soon fled the country for Australia, where he has been playing football for a local club in Melbourne.

Araibi has denied any wrongdoing, describing charges against him as "political".