BBC: Hakeem Al-Araibi’s finger traces over every sentence of the letter, eager not to miss even one word from his beloved wife.
The professional soccer player is unable to hold the precious message, instead he must read it from behind a glass pane as a friend holds it up from the visitors room of Bangkok Remand Prison prison in the Thai capital.
“I am crying inside, I miss her so much, we were together every day,” he tells CNN from the prison on Friday. The only way to communicate with him is through a telephone set that’s wired to the other side of the window pane separating inmates from their visitors.
Al-Araibi says he and his wife have been together for seven years and were planning on having a baby. “There is not a single day I would not miss her. I love her very much, and I worry about her very much.”
Those happy family plans were forcibly put on hold when Al-Araibi, a refugee and former member of the Bahraini national soccer team, was arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport while on his honeymoon on November 27. Interpol had issued a “red notice” — an international arrest warrant — which is not supposed to be given to refugees.
Al-Araibi, who fled Bahrain in 2014, was detained and held in Thailand at the request of the Bahrain government. He holds refugee status in Australia where he plays for Melbourne soccer club Pascoe Vale, but has been locked in an overcrowded Thai prison cell since his arrest while officials await extradition proceedings.
On Friday, Al-Araibi’s lawyer said that is due to appear in court on Monday morning local time and will be asked whether he will comply with the extradition request or challenge it.
Activists campaigning for his release have launched a global campaign of support and warn that his case has become an “absolute emergency” now that an extradition request has been filed.
Speaking to CNN’s News Stream on Thursday, former Australia soccer captain Craig Foster, who is spearheading the campaign, said Al-Araibi is “nothing more than a political prisoner.”
“This is about retribution from the government and royal family in Bahrain, and all Australians are saying we will not stand for it,” he said.
Our time is a news portal