Hakeem al-Araibi UPDATE: “Australia never issued a red notice”

The Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi is going to file another bail request next week. His lawyer said yesterday that they will continue to seek bail while he awaits his extradition trial in April.

Meanwhile, the Australian government, which is pressing for his release and return, yesterday dismissed reports that it had put out the red notice that resulted in the footballer getting detained.

The Australian Embassy in Bangkok released a statement saying, “Australia never issued a red notice against al-Araibi. This red notice was issued by Bahrain on November 8, 2018, shortly before he travelled to Bangkok.”

The statement also said a red notice should never have been issued as al-Araibi held the status of a protected refugee and that it was a breach of Interpol regulations.

It said Canberra was not initially aware of this, and in line with procedure, Interpol notified Thailand of al-Araibi’s travel.

“When the Australian government became aware of the situation, we ensured the red notice was rescinded as soon as possible. This happened on November 30, only three days after al-Alaraibi arrived in Bangkok. Australia is reviewing our procedures so this does not happen again,” the embassy statement said.

Prior to the embassy statement, Thai Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said he had explained the Thai legal procedure to the Australian Embassy and insisted that Thailand’s executive branches have no authority to intervene in the justice system.

“The Australian Interpol red notice was revoked only after al-Araibi was detained, so we have to follow our laws and procedures,” Surachate said.

SOURCE: The Nation