[Published: Tuesday December 11 2018]
 Refugee footballer fights extradition to Bahrain
BANGKOK 11 Dec (ANA) - A Bahraini footballer is facing extradition from Thailand, despite international calls for his release.
Hakeem Al-Araibi, 25, who holds refugee status in Australia, was detained in Bangkok last month on an Interpol warrant put out by Bahrain.
He was sentenced in Bahrain for vandalism but denies the charges.
Australia, football's governing body Fifa and rights groups have condemned his arrest as there are fears for his safety if he is sent back to Bahrain.
Mr Al-Araibi claims he will be tortured if extradited.
The footballer fled to Australia in 2014 where he was granted political asylum last year and plays for Melbourne football club Pascoe Vale.
He was on a holiday in Thailand when authorities detained him at a Bangkok airport on 27 November.
On Tuesday he appeared at a Bangkok court where his detention was extended for 60 days.
In 2014, Hakeem Al-Araibi was sentenced in absentia in Bahrain to 10 years in prison for vandalising a police station.
His home country's embassy in Thailand said on Twitter the footballer was wanted "for security cases".
The former member of Bahrain's national soccer team denies all allegations.
"If I am deported to Bahrain, don't forget me, and if once I'm there you hear me saying things, don't believe me," he wrote on Facebook last week.
"I know what will happen to me and I know I will be tortured to confess things that I have never done." (ANA)
FA/ANA/11 December 2018-------
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