Australia and the world football community have a great chance to show their support for human rights by fighting to save Hakeem al-Araibi, an Australian permanent resident who has spent the past two months in a jail in Thailand and could soon face much worse.
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Since Mr Araibi's arrest, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has rightly raised the case with her Thai opposite number and this week Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken a brave and principled step by writing directly to the Thai prime minister demanding Mr Araibi be freed.
Mr Araibi, a semi-professional footballer, was one of thousands of victims of the violent repression which the tiny oil-rich gulf state of Bahrain launched after 2011 when its majority Shia Muslim population started a campaign for more rights.
He was arrested in 2012 on trumped-up charges of vandalising a police station even though at the time he had just played in a soccer game that was televised live and was in the changing room. He was given a 10-year prison sentence.
He somehow escaped to Australia and his life looked set for a happy ending. His claim for asylum was quickly upheld given the clear evidence of faked charges. He was fitting in to Australian life, playing football for Pascoe Vale in the Victorian state football league. As he told the Herald on Tuesday, he played football, paid taxes and loved Australia.
Yet things went badly wrong last November when he was arrested in Thailand where he had flown for a holiday with his wife. He was arrested and then told that Bahrain was trying to have him extradited.
The Australian government may well have played a role in putting him in this jeopardy. It seems the Department of Home Affairs notified Thai authorities that Mr Araibi was heading their way and Bahrain was after him.
The department has failed to give a clear explanation of why it contacted Thailand except to say that Thailand would already have known Bahrain had asked Interpol to help find Mr Araibi.
Yet, under Interpol rules, Australia was under no obligation to help Bahrain or tell Thailand anything. In fact, Australia has an overriding obligation under international humanitarian law not to send refugees back to face persecution. Since winning asylum in Australia, Mr Araibi has spoken out about torture in Bahrain making it even more likely he will suffer if he is sent back.
Unfortunately, the head of the Asian Football Confederation happens to be a member of the Bahraini royal family who may have played a role in Mr Araibi's arrest and may be pulling strings.
Thailand's decision to detain Mr Araibi pending the prolonged extradition proceedings contrasts with the quick release of Saudi female asylum seeker, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, to Canada only last month.
In the meantime, the Australian football world, led by former Socceroos captain and broadcaster Craig Foster, has rallied behind Mr Araibi and is asking FIFA, the sport's global body, to put pressure on Thailand, which has plans to host the 2034 World Cup.
For FIFA, this is a chance to show it has turned its back on the sleazy politics that stained the awarding of hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 to Russia and Qatar. FIFA says it is now determined to put respect for human rights as one of its key priorities. It should warn Thailand that deporting Mr Araibi could jeopardise its place in world football.
