All language subtitles for The Defenders [2023] [1080p] [1,49 Gb]

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The life
of a refugee footballer

is hanging in the balance.

A nightmare far from

what Hakeem Al-Araibi imagined

when he flew off
on his honeymoon.

Please stop them.

He believes
he's been wrongly targeted

by the Bahraini authorities.

Hakeem, unwittingly,
had walked into a trap.

...as his extradition case

unfolds between
three countries.

His supporters included

former Socceroos captain
Craig Foster.

This is going to bring
up issues of corruption,

of human rights abuse.

We're going to
have to take on

the biggest powers
in world football.

The
twenty-five-year-old

was brought before the Bangkok
court shackled in chains.

Now
that image shocked the world.

A global
campaign to free Hakeem.

He lives in terror

of being extradited
to Bahrain,

where he could be tortured
or even killed.

Please save me, please.

Like the worst criminal.

How is all this occurring?

You know,
what's this kid done?

It was a Tuesday night,
I remember this distinctly.

We got a message from Hakeem
in Thailand.

Hakeem has been
detained in Thailand.

Detained in Thailand?

What do you mean he's--
What's he done?

It was excellent
football from Pascoe Vale.

Dangerous ball with a flick,
Headers in.

It's a wonderful finish.

Hakeem Al-Araibi.

We had re-signed Hakeem
in that summer.

The values that he has
are very important

to our football club,
you know?

Family person, honest player.

If you come up against Hakeem,

you knew you had a battle
on your hands.

He was a very tough defender.

I knew he was a refugee,

and he had some sort
of issues in Bahrain,

and that the government wanted
to-- to persecute him.

Australia took him in.

He's starting to make a life
for himself.

He's met a lady.

He's gotten married.

They didn't have a chance
to have a honeymoon.

And he was taking his wife
to Thailand.

I didn't eat anything here.

If you can, anyone, help me to
go back to Australia, please.

He sent voice notes
to all the Bahrainis

who are outside Bahrain
that he knows.

So, why he is arrested,
it didn't make sense.

He has a protection visa.

So, we tried contacting
the DFAT.

The lady who answered my call,
she's like,

"He's not Australian.
I can't do anything for him."

I'm not asking you
if he's Australian or not,

I'm telling you that
there is a life

of a human being in danger.

And we were trying
to figure out

why was Hakeem arrested?

Is he guilty
of doing something?

Or, he is really innocent.

Well, pro-democracy protests

are continuing to spread
across the Middle East.

Thousands
of protestors in Bahrain

are calling
for constitutional reform,

and this is the man
they chant about:

King Hamad Al Khalifa,

head of the family
that has ruled them

for over two centuries.

What
we're demanding is to live

just like any human being
in this world.

I am in detention
in Bangkok.

For a honeymoon to be
the most drastic event

in your life,

you could imagine
what a living nightmare

that the two were
going through.

In 2011, I took part in
the popular uprising.

And you can see
a scar on my forehead.

This is a mark of a shoe
by a police officer.

And then
for simply speaking up

about what I experienced
and what I witnessed,

I was thrown in a prison,

and I was convicted
by a military court

and I fled and came to the UK.

I thought it would be
extremely important

to set up an organisation
in London

where it would speak out

about the situation
in the country.

The most powerful
thing Hakeem had

was his own mobile phone.

I was able to speak
to Hakeem directly,

ask him, "Would you be able
to send me some pictures?"

I thought a footballer
about to be extradited

is an extremely important story,

and my job was to make sure
that the whole world

would know about what
he was experiencing.

As soon as
Hakeem was arrested,

people were getting in touch

from the Bahrain
human rights networks.

Hakeem and his wife
were met at the gate.

Bahrain had some sort of
surveillance on Hakeem

in Australia.

They knew that he was
applying for a visa

to go to Thailand.

They knew that
they were coming.

Hakeem, unwittingly,
had walked into a trap.

The Interpol Red Notice
with a photo of Hakeem here,

and it says,
"Caution: Dangerous."

One of the core principles
of refugee rights

is that you cannot be sent
back to a country

where you would face persecution.

But we consistently see
regimes will issue

Interpol Red Notices
for people who are refugees.

And according to
Interpol's own principles,

such Red Notices are supposed
to be thrown out.

They are null and void.

So, when I heard that

Australia had formally
notified Thailand

of the Red Notice,

I was gobsmacked.

Someone in
the Ministry of Home Affairs,

in an incredibly stupid,
boneheaded move,

and decided they had to
inform the Thais

that he was flying there.

The whole thing was
absolutely absurd.

If you can, anyone,

help me to get back
to Australia.

I just want to...

Has everyone seen
the Red Notice?

Um, so this is the official
notice that's been sent around

that actually led
to Hakeem's arrest.

The Australian authorities
have really messed up

in sending on
this illegal document.

So the Interpol Red Notice

was rescinded when Australia
notified Interpol

that Hakeem had a valid

refugee protection visa
in Australia,

which meant that
the Thai government

had an obligation
to release Hakeem

and let him come back
to Australia.

They didn't do that.

Now, this was
a really unusual move.

There was
no valid legal reason

why they should have
kept Hakeem,

and that was when
we really became aware

that there was
some strong lobbying

from the Bahraini authorities
to Thailand directly

for the purpose of extraditing
him back to Bahrain.

In 2014, a Bahraini
dissident named Ali Haroon

was stuck in Thailand,

and at that time, we attempted
to do whatever in our power

to halt his extradition
without success.

We know that Ali Haroon fled

after being imprisoned
and tortured in 2013

to Thailand.

And the Thai government then
arrested him in 2014

and extradited him
back to Bahrain.

He was sedated
to get onto the aeroplane.

His injuries were so bad

that when he arrived
back in Bahrain,

he had to be hospitalised,

and no one has heard of him
or been able to visit him

since 2017.

We know that
Hakeem would be next.

Hakeem would be subjected to,

if not, like,
similar experience,

if not worse.

The risk of him being
handed over was so real.

Once Hakeem had been
transferred from the airport

to the immigration
detention centre in Suan Plu,

he was actually held
in an office.

He wasn't put in the general
detention population.

And his wife was there too,

and he was able
to hold onto his phone.

My biggest concern was
that not enough people

knew what was happening

and that if Thailand tried
to pull a fast one,

there was going to be
some sort of secret deal,

there would be no way
we could stop it.

No.

Hakeem Al-Araibi
has spent his first nights

in the main remand prison
in Bangkok,

after almost two weeks
detained at the airport

and an immigration centre.

Hakeem,
what's your message?

What do you want to say?

What do you hope
happens today?

I don't-- I don't know.

I don't want to go back
to Bahrain,

I want to go back
to Australia.

I didn't do anything
in Bahrain.

I am a refugee in Australia.

I will get citizenship
soon in Australia.

I am Australian, not Bahraini.

I didn't do anything.

It's just this
vulnerable kid, a footballer.

You know, he's just--
he's a footballer,

he's the same as me,

just with
a different passport.

And here he is
with a whole country

trying to pull this kid back
where he'd been tortured.

And he's facing torture again.

And I just
couldn't believe it.

Please stop them.

Keep going, keep going.

Chase him, chase him.
It's still yours.

We're blessed in
Australia, playing football,

because it's such
a diverse game.

Since the age of probably fifteen,

when I started to move into
our junior national teams,

I was in a mix of Australians
of every ethnicity,

every religion, every culture

and that's really a gift.

No one could believe that
this team came from

some unknown soccer nation
called Australia.

The game just places us
in the middle

of this melting pot
of cultures.

That's been central
to developing my world view.

Here's Aloisi
for a place in the World Cup.

He scores!

- Australia have done it!
- Come on!

Come on, Australia!

This is what it's about.

The tension and the passion.

Good morning, everyone,
I'm Craig Foster,

SBS's chief football analyst.

With twenty years in the media

and the profile I had
in the game in Australia,

I knew that I had
a range of skills

that could help him.

So, I went through the history
of Bahraini activism

and human rights abuse
against athletes.

The more reading I did,

I knew that he was in
deep, deep trouble.

It's clear that something
is very, very foul.

Gianni Infantino
from Switzerland

is one of the favourites

to become FIFA's first
new president in eighteen years.

Of course
I'm confident.

Sheikh Salman from Bahrain

is the other frontrunner.

I'm very
confident. Very confident.

Though
human rights groups claim

he had local
soccer players arrested

following
pro-democracy protests.

Basically, a member
of Bahraini ruling family,

Sheikh Salman Al Khalifa,

nominated himself
to be elected

as the FIFA president.

At the time when Hakeem
was arrested in Bahrain

and subjected to torture,

he was the president

of Bahrain Football Associations.

During 2011, Prince Nasser
mandated Sheikh Salman

to be in charge of
the committee

which will come after
those athletes

which has stood up
against the government,

and it was not long
before those players

were picked up,
and they were subjected

to brutal torture.

This is the man
who is going to be in charge

of leading FIFA.

All of a sudden, there was
massive media interest

about Bahrain as a subject

because of
Sheikh Salman's nomination.

So, back in 2016,

I was trying to find someone
who could tell us

what it means
to be a footballer

under Salman's leadership,

and I was told that
there is this guy

who's currently in Australia.

Hakeem Al-Araibi
used to play

for Bahrain's national team.

He was arrested
during the crackdown

that followed the uprising.

He was
the first person to say

Sheikh Salman failed
to protect

footballers in Bahrain.

It was reported
on page one

on The New York Times.

This is a story
that hit headlines

across the globe.

First of all,
when you say tortured,

I think allegedly tortured.

These are false,
you know, nasty lies

that has been repeated
again and again.

Surely, on a
basic level, as the head

of the National Association,

you have failed
those footballers.

They were simply displaying
their political viewpoint.

You cannot
accept somebody coming to you

and accusing you of things
that you haven't done,

and they're just repeating it
again and again.

More than two
hundred football associations

from around the world
have gathered in Zurich

to vote in
the next FIFA President.

Stop supporting Salman!

Stop supporting Salman!

Stop supporting Salman!

Since 2011,

we've had more than
one hundred and fifty athletes

arrested and imprisoned,

and so we're looking at
a long time issue

with the Bahraini government
going after athletes

as a part of the crackdown
against democracy

and human rights.

And so, if Sheikh Salman
is elected here today,

what kind of message
is FIFA sending

about the integrity of FIFA?

This was
the moment Gianni Infantino

became the new face
of world soccer.

Sheikh Salman from Bahrain
came in second.

- Pardon?
- Are you disappointed...

Oh, no, no,
no, no, I think, you know,

this is sports,
this is fair play,

and we have to show it
inside and outside.

All the best for him,
thank you.

Hakeem Al-Araibi
has spent his first nights

in the main remand prison
in Bangkok.

In the next sixty days,
a court will start deciding

whether to extradite him
to Bahrain,

the country he fled,

or return him to Australia.

He was clearly
left behind

by his own country.

I felt that he was being
left behind by Australia now.

Was I into football? No.

Um, was I interested?

Not even a little bit.

I've come from Bosnia.
I'm a refugee myself.

So I sort of
had that connection

where I knew
he left his home already.

He's got his whole future
in front of him,

and all of a sudden,
he finds himself detained

while having protection
from Australia.

And then I went
on Twitter looking,

hoping that I could maybe find
somebody talking about it.

In those early weeks,

you had Sayed
starting to become vocal.

Different organisations
here and globally,

they were used to
what was going on here.

Bahrain, you know,

were serial offenders
in this regard,

so I was in touch with them,

just trying to work out,
what could I do.

When we first tweeted
about Hakeem,

what is the hashtag
that I need to use?

I tried to come up quickly
with something.

#SaveHakeem.

Fatima and ourselves
came up with that

because we felt social media
is the only way

that we can get
this happening.

Hi, I'm Vitale
Ferrante, I'm Hakeem's coach.

All of Australia, we've got to
get behind #SaveHakeem.

Please, help us to
bring him back to Australia.

...three! Save Hakeem!

I had never really
used social media

in any great degree,
so I was just

making it up, really,
as I went along.

It seemed for weeks

all the same names
kept popping up,

so we all started sort of
helping each other out.

Hakeem is
extraordinarily brave,

and for trying
to shed light on

the torture
of people in Bahrain,

they chased him
across the globe.

We're doing it
because it's unfair on him.

Bahrain trying to, you know,

punish someone
who embarrassed them.

It's almost
unheard of

for an extradition request
in Bangkok

not to be granted.

People like Hakeem Al-Araibi
who face

extradition proceedings
of this kind,

the vast majority,
if not all of them,

do end up being extradited.

He could not end up
in Bahrain.

Like, that was
a death sentence.

We were starting to
see names becoming familiar

who are tweeting about
the same thing,

trying to raise awareness.

We kept retweeting each other,

and... just to keep it going
and trying to get this hashtag

to sort of
get a life of its own.

I started to see that
people were sharing his story

and supporting me.

"Craig, we're with you,
tell us what to do."

You know, "How can we help?"

Craig gets in touch

and just pops random people
together in a group

and said, "You're our
social media team."

I think he did actually
act as a coach to the team

and he guided us as to
where he wanted us to go,

and where
to take the attention to.

At the moment
not many people know about it,

and I guess if we can
leverage public sentiment

and get people involved,

it's a pretty
compelling story.

A young man on his honeymoon
with his wife, new wife.

Part of the challenge is
Hakeem is a Muslim,

uh, he's a refugee,

and they're things that are
potentially not very appealing

to the Australian community
at the moment.

Some components
of his story and his life

meant that he was less likely
to get the support

both of
the Australian government

and I think probably of
the Australian people.

Refugees in the last
twenty years

have been
incredibly demonised.

If you travel
by boat without a visa,

you will not
make Australia home.

People weren't taking this
as seriously.

They were like,
"Eh, who's this,

this Muslim,
you know, refugee.

How is that our problem?"

People are not
going to come and get him

simply because he's a refugee.

People are not going to
come and get him

just because he's a Bahraini
who's been tortured.

People might come and help him
and speak out for him,

and we might have a chance,
a slim chance,

if we can activate sport.

Finally, belatedly.

Now, the football angle

was a really interesting one

because sport is like
a religion in Australia.

And his legend grows.

He's going to need

football to come
to his rescue.

On behalf of
Hakeem's wife,

I am here to submit the letter

to Prime Minister
Prayut Chan-o-cha

and ask him, please,
to release Hakeem

on humanitarian grounds.

Really scary things
happening in Thailand.

Hakeem's wife
keeps calling in tears

thinking he's been put
on a plane to Bahrain.

The last dissident,
Ali Haroon,

was tortured on the plane,

so this is very serious.

Minky.

My reaction was,
we have to mobilise

the Sport and Rights Alliance,
we have to mobilise

international human rights community.

Many of
the Gulf countries,

Saudi Arabia, the UAE,
Qatar, Bahrain,

they really want to be part of
the world community,

but they don't want to reform
their human rights practices.

In Bahrain, after 2011,
after the Arab Spring,

it was very interesting
how the government

attempted to rehabilitate
its image through sports.

It's the Bahrain Grand Prix,

and it's lights out,
and away we go!

Sport can be used
to provide a cover

for some of the most egregious
and threatening undertakings

in the history
of modern society.

Sportswashing lets
some of the world's

worst human rights abusers
rub elbows

with the international
sports community

to make your country look like
a member in good standing

of the international community.

We actually had
a situation where

mega sporting events,

such as the Olympic Games
and the World Cup,

were being associated with
human rights atrocities.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup

is Qatar.

Qatar was
a tipping point in many ways.

There had to be
the mass migration of workers

to undertake
the scale of construction

which the bid required.

These men
have to work in temperatures

exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.

Amnesty International

has described it as
the World Cup of shame.

It's likened the conditions
of the workers there

to slavery.

So FIFA had
no human rights policy

because they don't want to
give up

their wealthy,
abusive partners.

For nearly a decade,

Russia and Qatar
have been suspected

of buying votes

to win hosting rights
for the 2018

and 2022 World Cups.

According to the
Department of Justice here,

it was an example of a
multi-billion-dollar business

operating not as
a sports governing body,

but as a corrupt
criminal enterprise.

Now,
the fourteen defendants

charged in the indictment
we are unsealing today

include high-ranking officials
of FIFA.

This really is
the World Cup of fraud.

This event called
the World Cup,

one of the great sports events
of the world,

is now mired in corruption
and human rights abuse.

But one whistle-blower says

Qatar only did what was needed

when dealing with
FIFA's culture of corruption.

More people will die

in the building
of the football stadiums

for the World Cup in 2022

than players will play.

Six and a
half thousand people

have lost their lives

in relation
to construction efforts

around the World Cup.

And so FIFA knew it had to act

not really out of any sense
of human rights concern,

but in order to preserve

the very essence
of its business.

And so in 2016,

it adopted
a human rights policy.

Knowing that FIFA
had passed these rules,

the first thing I wanted to do
was talk with Hakeem

before they took away
his cell phone.

Do you know FIFA has
a human rights policy?

Rights on paper
are meaningless

unless they're tested
and implemented.

That was the question that
Hakeem's case posed.

Could FIFA,
with a new president,

actually do the right thing?

It was imperative
we saved Hakeem

for Hakeem the human being

and for the billions of people

whose human rights
are affected

by the conduct of sport.

If we were going to prevent
any of this

from happening again,

then we had to save Hakeem.

Hakeem being
an Australian footballer,

the first steps that he needed
from support from the sport

was the Australian
Football Federation,

which is part of the
Asian Football Confederation.

It gives me great
pleasure to welcome

the honourable President

of the Asian Football Confederation,

His Excellency, Sheikh Salman.

Salman was running Asia,

and was the right-hand man

and had the ear
of Infantino at FIFA.

This guy was going to be expected

to actually step forward
and help him.

The greatest
football show

on the continent is underway.

It was
hugely fortuitous that

the Asian Cup was at that time

when this kid is
sitting in jail.

"Dear Sir,
I write to you as a member

of the Australian
football family

regarding my football brother,
Hakeem Al-Araibi.

As President of the AFC,

will you issue
an immediate statement

on behalf of the AFC

calling for Hakeem Al-Araibi's
release?"

Big opportunity
now, Al Hammadi!

"The position of
AFC President now carries

a non-negotiable obligation
to do everything possible

to uphold the human rights
of all in football."

And a penalty's been given.

That quite new
FIFA human rights policy

became the wonderful
opportunity, in a way,

to obligate Infantino and FIFA
and AFC to act.

And so, writing to Salman
just puts him on notice

and it also puts
all of the people

getting involved in
the campaign on notice

that that's where
we're headed.

This is about taking on
the biggest powers

in world football.

Full-time whistle sounds

in the opening game of
the 2019 Asian Cup.

Save Hakeem!
Save Hakeem!

Thank you, everyone,
for coming today

for the solidarity protest
in support of Hakeem Al-Araibi

and to call on
the Thai government

to release Hakeem immediately,

particularly today,
with a bilateral meeting

with our Foreign Minister,
Marise Payne.

We knew that Marise Payne

was going to visit
her counterpart in Thailand.

This was one
of the highest escalations,

diplomatically,
that a country can take.

So the purpose of having
that protest at the same time

was really to ramp up
the pressure

on the Thai government

who were able to send Hakeem
home at any moment.

We had really high hopes
that Marise Payne's visit

would result in a positive
outcome for Hakeem.

We're also calling on the

AFC,
Asian Football Confederation,

to publicly support Hakeem.

So, away we go,
with Bahrain all in red

as Bahrain face Thailand.

We're also calling on
the president of the AFC,

Sheikh Salman,
to support Hakeem Al-Araibi,

to make a public statement.

The silence of over six weeks

of the Asian
Football Confederation

is completely unacceptable.

This could go.

Trying to tip it right,
and he's scoring!

It's a super finish!

The Thai government

is most certainly aware

of the importance
of this matter to Australia.

I do note that there are
legal proceedings underway

in relation to Mr. Al-Araibi,

and Australia will continue
to be in very close contact

with Thai authorities
in relation to this.

We received
word that Marise Payne's visit

had not been a success,

and this was
a significant blow

for the campaign.

We're certainly concerned

about why the Thai government
is prioritising

its relationship with
the Kingdom of Bahrain

over its relationship
with Australia.

So why is
that happening?

What is the relationship
between Thailand and Bahrain?

All of these questions,
you know, are bubbling up,

and no one had the answers.

Hakeem's wife
consistently asked

to remain anonymous
throughout the campaign

because she feared
for her own life

and the lives and security of
her family back in Bahrain,

but she was
his greatest advocate.

Hakeem's wife came
to Sydney from Melbourne,

and seeing her
there in person--

a devastated,
traumatised young wife,

sitting down in front of me
and asking me, basically,

to save her husband.

And I responded and said,

"You know, I'm doing
everything I can."

She said,
"Will you save my husband?"

And I was explaining,

you know,
the steps I was taking,

and she just kind of
stopped me and said,

"Will you save my husband?"

You know, and, um...

Yeah...

I just got the sense
in that moment

that this was more important
than anything.

Unless I really did something,
you know, proper,

she was going to lose
her husband.

You know?

Craig's going to
go to Bangkok,

and we obviously need
to be quite mindful

of his security
when he gets there.

Obviously, we're dealing with

a military dictatorship
in Thailand,

there's quite strong laws
about people speaking out,

particularly about
the Royal Family

or the government there.

There may be a situation where

Craig has to get out of
Thailand very quickly.

"And so we'll prepare
an escape plan.

We'll get you on a train.

We'll get you over one of
the several borders.

We've done it before."

And that's when it started
to get a bit worrying.

The next day, my daughter
actually came inside

and said,

"There's a car
across the road,

and people are watching
the house."

I went outside,
approached the car...

...and they went off.

I was planning to leave
in three or four days.

Now, you know,
we've got people

outside the house
watching our family.

What happens if I go abroad

and then something
happens here?

I was never quite sure if
it was the right decision.

You went to see him yesterday?

He's tired,
he's deflated,

and he's ready to come home.

But, um, I think just...

I mean, try as much
as possible

to, um, keep his spirits up

and just to show him
that, you know,

that people are with him
and supporting him.

- Nice to see you again.
- Nice to see you.

Yeah, this is about the third
or fourth time...

Craig contacted Evan and said

that he would like
to talk to me.

I told him that,
for Bahrain to submit

their official
extradition request,

they have a sixty-day window.

The Thai government can
communicate with Bahrain,

but I feel like Bahrain
also don't want to lose face.

Nat explained
one really important thing:

Bahrain had not
actually submitted

their extradition paperwork.

I thought the paperwork
must be in

and we're waiting
for the hearing.

She said,
"No, it's not even in."

What happens if they don't
put this paperwork in?

And she said, "Well then
the whole thing goes away,

and he can go home."

Immediately, I started telling

all the social media campaigners,

"We need to pressure now
the Bahrain government

not to put the paperwork in."

And so I tweeted out about
the fact that it wasn't in,

and that FIFA should be
leaning on Salman immediately

back to his government
to stop the paperwork.

The night before I went
to the prison,

I just couldn't sleep.

You know, this meeting is

the most important meeting
of my life.

This is as close to
the prison as we can get.

Hakeem Al-Araibi
will be behind glass and bars.

Craig Foster
will speak with him

via a prison telephone.

Save Hakeem!

How was Hakeem
when you saw him?

So, Hakeem is worried
because the case

has been ongoing so long now
that he...

he's worried, as he said, that
Bahrain are winning.

And he said,
"I need you guys to win."

He said, "They took my career
and they broke my heart

because I love my wife
and I love football."

And he said, "The two things
I love the most,

they've taken from me."

And I told him that, um...

I told him that the players
of the world

are fighting hard for him.

Hakeem Al-Araibi

in everyone's thoughts
in the football community.

Good to see
the "Save Hakeem" message

going around the A-League
this weekend,

the football community rallying

to try and get him back home
to Melbourne

and back to his wife.

If every effort
is not made,

and if the life
of Hakeem Al-Araibi,

in the eyes of the football
governance officials

and the football community

is not equally as valuable

as both the lives
of the officials

or of the billions of dollars
of influence

that is brought to bear
in this particular case,

then the soul of football
is dead.

Bahrain has
formally applied

to extradite Hakeem Al-Araibi,

the Melbourne-based refugee
and soccer player

who's been held in
a Thailand prison

for two months.

It was
completely devastating.

All that then needed
to happen was

Thailand's Attorney General
would accept the orders,

and Hakeem could be put
on a plane the next day.

I actually thought immediately,

Bahrain and Thailand are
working together here,

and they're responding
to our campaign.

It was clear at that moment
that they were winning,

and so I needed to respond
and we needed to, basically,

in football parlance,
we needed to counterattack.

Yeah, look,
Fozz gives us a buzz,

and he says,
"Look, this kid--"

he always called Hakeem
"this kid,"

I said he's a man
but anyway--

"he's in serious danger.

We need to elevate this,

otherwise we're going to have
a tragedy on our hands."

I drafted a tweet.

"I'm going to turn up,
basically, at your office,

and I'm inviting
all of the world's media,

and you better get
a meeting to work."

And I remember,
before I send it,

just thinking to myself,
"God, that's pretty crazy."

You know?

Many people go to FIFA House,

and what's on offer
is so seductive

that they end up not really
doing their job.

And I said to Schwabe,

"This organisation
and that building

is built by us.

It's built on Pelé.

It's built on George Best.

It's built on Eusébio.

It's built on Sam Kerr."

I said to him,
"We own that building."

We're seeing Fatma Samoura at
midday, at twelve o'clock.

- And your name?
- Craig Foster.

FIFA's human rights policy
was very much at the centre

of this whole issue.

That's, ah...

It meant that they had
to advance

the cause of human rights

and use all available leverage
that they had.

Well, when it comes to FIFA,
that's massive.

And so there was
a number of steps

that we wanted to see
FIFA take.

Very nice.
My first time here, actually.

- Really?
- Yes.

- The home of FIFA?
- You've never invited me.

Oh, really?
Somebody has to be blamed.

Right. Exactly right.

He knows
the games they play,

he knows the regime
very well, obviously,

having been tortured previously...

And so we then started
the dance

that happens
in these meetings.

Fatma and her staff
trying to push back

on the fact that
they're doing enough,

and me saying to Fatma,
"Well, you're not, actually."

Uh, it's clear that, ah,
the situation's escalated

since the last statement.

So, shall we talk freely here
now, or you want to wait...

No,
I think that they can...

Is it okay
for you, gentlemen?

My requests of Fatma
and of FIFA, then,

were that Infantino
got involved immediately,

that he get Salman
on the line,

that he let
the Bahraini government know

that they need to pull
the extradition order,

and that we needed to work
on a joint press release

that would be issued immediately

calling on Bahrain to act.

Unless they were prepared
to issue that,

then I would walk outside
and tell the world's media

that they were leaving
this kid to die.

We're delighted to say
that FIFA agreed

that this has now become
an emergency situation

requiring an escalation

from all stakeholders

to provide full protection
for Hakeem.

We also agreed
that Fatma and FIFA

are going to escalate
the issue

to the highest level
of both countries.

Having people
like Giorgio Chiellini,

a World Cup winner,

tweeting, "Release Hakeem."

That's where this got to.

Players around the world
just started saying,

"Okay, we-- this is just
not right."

Protest rallies in
Sydney and Melbourne today

have demanded
the immediate release

of Hakeem Al-Araibi
from a Thai prison.

All right, thank you,
everyone, for coming.

The feeling of this country is
escalating very quickly,

and Thailand should know that
there are repercussions

to taking any decision that's
contrary to international law.

Bahrain is trying
to send a very strong message

that you may think that
you're free in Australia

to speak your mind
and to say what you think,

but we will track you down,

we will hunt you,
and we will bring you back.

Today, the unions
threw their support

behind Hakeem,

and wouldn't rule out
travel bans to Thailand

if he isn't released.

The whole
movement in Australia

had just taken on
a life of its own.

I sadly
rise today to talk about

the incarceration of
Hakeem Al-Araibi.

I say to
the Thai Prime Minister,

Maintain relations
with Australia.

Return Hakeem
to Victoria now.

Everybody was
tweeting about it.

Clearly, it was trending.

People from all over the world

were tweeting on that hashtag.

There was
actually just

tens and hundreds
of thousands of people

who now had decided
this was wrong,

and it was clear that

we had got
in the ascendancy again.

At that time,
our hopes were so high.

This campaign was
a game of chess,

and every time we attacked
and made a move,

there would be
a counterattack.

Let's see what's
making news this Friday,

the first of February.

And refugee footballer
Hakeem Al-Araibi

will reportedly face court
on Monday

after Bahrain's
extradition request

was lodged by
Thai prosecutors.

Whilst we'd made good steps,

we clearly were being unsuccessful.

You know,
they're still moving ahead.

And I was elated after
the FIFA meeting.

A couple of days earlier,
we got the press release.

At least they've-- they've
publicly called out Bahrain.

But it clearly
wasn't enough yet.

In less than forty-eight hours,
this kid is in court.

We believed
that Hakeem was

going to be extradited
to Bahrain,

and I remember
telling his wife,

"God won't let you down.

Just pray
and He will hear you."

I went to the court.

They cut my hair,

they put me on the bus,

and some of the police,

he held a gun,

he asked me to go out
from the bus,

the last one.

I was surprised
so many people,

many flash is coming at me.

I was worried for my family.

What are they going to do?
What are they thinking?

Your wife sends
her love, Hakeem.

All of Australia is with you.
Be strong, buddy!

Stay strong, Hakeem.
We're with you.

I saw Craig,
and he said,

"Hakeem, be strong,
be strong."

I was happy to see him there.

Please, save me. Please.

Hakeem looked awful.

Yeah, it was quite devastating
to see him that way.

We were shocked.

We were absolutely shocked
that he was in shackles.

Like the worst criminal.

What's this kid done?

Spoken truth to power.

That's a question

for Thailand to consider,

the ramification of its actions

for its relationships

with other bodies
and other governments.

There was fifteen countries
here today

to observe these proceedings.

They're also asking
the same thing.

The fact that Thailand
was just pushing ahead

regardless of the arguments
made against this extradition,

why would they do
such a thing?

You know, what is this...
What is this all about?

I can tell you now,

there's some aspects
of this entire affair

which are
extremely concerning,

which will explain
Thailand's actions,

but unfortunately,
they're just too sensitive

to talk about publicly.

In Thailand when you
can't explain things,

when you can't explain why
the government's

going in a certain direction,

then you know the answer.

Things are tied up
at that royal level

and there's influence there and
directives coming down saying,

"This is what you're
going to do

and this is how things are
going to proceed."

So what is the
relationship between

the two Royal Families?

I was constantly asking for
information in that regard,

and that wasn't easy
to come by

because they have laws
in Thailand

where people are imprisoned

if they speak in
a negative way

about the Royal Family.

Eventually, I found
a few people

who explained to me

the depth of the relationship
between the two.

The relationship between them
is very deep and historic.

Bahrain had been Thailand's
closest trade partner

in the Middle East
for decades.

We discovered that
the Thai King

had recently negotiated
the sale of a hotel

to the Bahrain Royal Family

that had made him
1.6 billion dollars.

And, of course, Salman is
a senior member

of the Bahrain Royal Family.

So we now knew
this was a matter

of two Royal Families trading
the life of Hakeem.

Is he actually saveable?

Is this situation saveable?

That's it, I think.

I honestly, at that point
in time, thought--

My kind of hope had, you know,
been dashed at that point.

Barefoot in Thailand

and locked up in chains,

a nightmare far from
what Hakeem Al-Araibi imagined

when he flew off
on his honeymoon.

The life
of a refugee footballer

is hanging in the balance.

The twenty-five-year-old

was brought before
the Bangkok court

shackled in chains.

Australia's Prime Minister,

soccer governing bodies,
and human rights activists

are urging Thailand
to set him free.

We all saw those

dramatic pictures of him

appearing at a courtroom
in Bangkok

and he was barefooted.

- In shackles...
- Shackles...

Shackled in chains.

Now, that image
shocked the world.

If we thought the
campaign was big at that point,

the shackles,
it just blew it up.

Human rights groups
are saying there simply isn't

a legal basis
for holding him here.

That's when the public turned.

The Thais.
That's when the Thais turned.

They didn't like the brutality
of their country

being displayed like that.

Some of his
supporters have even said

that Thailand
should be barred

from staging
international matches

if he is sent back to Bahrain.

Once we'd found out

that the Royal Family
of Thailand were involved,

we knew that to shift
the narrative,

we needed every day Thai people
to be speaking out

and putting pressure
on their politicians,

and only that was going
to shift the King.

We actually started
to see protests

in the coming days
from Thai clubs themselves,

which was incredibly brave,

given that they're basically
protesting against the King.

Football,
the beautiful game,

showed how beautiful it can be
when they stood up for him.

The "SaveHakeem" hashtag,

this is now
the most trending hashtag

in the whole of Thailand.

My view is that
the Thai government

is only now starting to see

the global opposition
to this move.

And the outrage just
swamped the Thai government.

The Thai Prime Minister
actually called for calm

they were under
so much pressure.

Whoever was religious
was praying.

Others were just pleading

because that was the moment.

The game had swung
our way again,

but it meant the Thai King
was backed into a corner,

and we had no idea
how he'd react.

What does that mean?

Why would he be going
to Bahrain at this time?

They're going
to sneak Hakeem

out of the country.

They've realised that
the public pressure

is so great, they can't
do this legitimately.

They're actually just going
to put a bag over his head,

they're going to take him
to the airport

and they're going to shove him
on a flight

because once he's back
in Bahrain,

nobody can do anything.

We basically thought
it was all over.

The thing that really
got me about this situation

was that it was football that
had done this to Hakeem.

It was the people at the very
highest levels of the game

that had failed him,

who didn't seem
to understand a thing

about what makes football
truly beautiful.

If we stop buying the shirts,

if we stop buying the tickets,

if we refuse to support teams
and clubs and competitions

that are abusing human rights,

it all stops.

It all comes back
to what is most important.

That is the game,
the players, and the fans.

But all I could do
in that moment was watch

as these people sat around
deciding what to do

with the life
of a twenty-five-year-old man.

And I guess I want
to give thanks to Australia

and it's amazing to see
all the people here.

And I just want to thank
this man.

He's fought too much
for my case.

And I want to thank you very much.

And I love Australia.

- Thank you very much.
- Welcome home, Hakeem!

A young Australian...

Um... sorry.

Good on you, Fozzy!

A young Australian
reunited with his wife.

That's the most important
thing here.

Refugee
footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi

is back in Australia
a free man.

Late yesterday, a Thai court
announced an extradition order

lodged by Bahrain
had been dropped.

We now know
the pressure brought by

the Save Hakeem campaign

caused a flurry
of diplomatic activity.

After Thailand's
foreign minister

made a trip to Bahrain,

Thailand's government announced

the extradition request
had been dropped.

I felt hope.

I am Hakeem Al-Araibi.

I am a footballer.

I am a torture survivor.

And I am
a human rights defender.