{"id":19245,"date":"2019-03-12T20:27:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/03\/12\/refugee-soccer-player-hakeem-al-araibi-granted-australian-citizenship\/"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:27:34","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:27:34","slug":"refugee-soccer-player-hakeem-al-araibi-granted-australian-citizenship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/refugee-soccer-player-hakeem-al-araibi-granted-australian-citizenship\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugee Soccer Player Hakeem al-Araibi Granted Australian Citizenship"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sasha Ingber<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison fastens an Australian flag pin on Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee soccer player who was granted citizenship in the country on Tuesday in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

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Stefan Postles\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Stefan Postles\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, a Bahraini refugee soccer player who was jailed and facing deportation arguably got his biggest goal \u2014 citizenship in a foreign country.<\/p>\n

Hakeem al-Araibi, 25, was one of about 200 people who became Australia citizens at a ceremony in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Scott Morrison fastened his own Australia flag pin to Araibi’s jacket. “I’ll take the new one,” he said<\/a>. “But this is for you, which you can wear very proudly, as our newest Australian but as someone whose Australian values have always been deep in his heart.”<\/p>\n

The developments in Araibi’s life triggered outcry among human rights activists, sports enthusiasts and lawmakers across the globe.<\/p>\n

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Araibi used to play on the national soccer team in the small Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. In 2012, authorities arrested him. In 2014, a court convicted him in absentia of torching a police station, handing him a prison sentence of 10 years. The professional soccer player fled Bahrain that year.<\/p>\n

He had been living in Australia as a refugee until last November, when he landed in Thailand during his honeymoon. Thai officials arrested him on an Interpol red notice<\/a>. He spent two months in jail, facing extradition to Bahrain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I could still remember the tone in Hakeem’s voice,” Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy for the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, tells NPR. “He was telling me about his sleepless nights, like it was a film running back in his head. Remembering everything in detail about how he was abused in Bahrain detention.”<\/p>\n

Araibi was beaten, especially on his legs and feet just to remind him that he would not play soccer again, Alwadaei says.<\/p>\n