When refugee Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi travelled to Thailand for a honeymoon with his wife in November 2018, little did he know he would become entangled in an extradition case that would eventually become an international scandal.
Al-Araibi, who fled Bahrain in 2014 before being granted permanent residence in Australia, was arrested upon arrival in Bangkok after Bahrain obtained an Interpol red notice arrest warrant against him. Al-Araibi had been jailed in Bahrain during a crackdown on pro-democracy athletes following the 2011 uprising. He fled his homeland before being sentenced in abstentia to 10 years in jail over an act of vandalism that he denies because he was playing a televised football match at the time.