A refugee football player who lives in Australia has been detained in Thailand and is facing deportation back to the country he fled from, where he fears violence and persecution. Hakeem Al-Araibi told Guardian Australia he was arrested on an Interpol red notice for his conviction over an act of vandalism in Bahrain which he denies and says allegedly happened while he was playing in a televised football game. Since 2015 Interpol has said it would not allow red notices against confirmed refugees and asylum seekers from the countries they fled from... Al-Araibi arrived in Australia in 2015 and was granted refugee status and permanent residency in Australia three years later. A former member of Bahrain’s national football team, he has previously described being tortured and beaten by authorities who had accused him and other football players of setting fire to a police station, and he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail. Al-Araibi denies the charge and claims he was playing in a televised football match at the time of the alleged incident... Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: “Interpol has violated its obligations, as Hakeem holds refugee status and returning him to Bahrain puts him at significant risk of torture and imprisonment...