Hakeem Al-Araibi's release shows the power of collective action by athletes, governments, nongovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies, players' unions, and sports federations to address rights issues, Human Rights Watch said.

A coalition of Thai human rights and civil liberties groups, academics and leading legal figures have called on the government to release refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi.

Thailand defended on Wednesday its arrest of a Bahraini footballer with refugee status in Australia, saying officials only detained him because Australian authorities sent an Interpol "red notice" after he boarded a plane to Bangkok.

Thailand's government should immediately release the refugee football player Hakeem Al-Araibi and let him return to his wife and team in Australia, Human Rights Watch said yesterday in announcing a campaign for his freedom.

A former Australian soccer player campaigning to free a Bahraini refugee athlete detained in Thailand wants FIFA, the sport's governing body, to sanction the soccer associations of Thailand and Bahrain if they fail to help.

Human rights organizations, activists and researchers called for radical change in international policies tackling human rights violations in Bahrain in an international conference held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, entitled “Bahrain: 8 Years of Repression under International Silence”.

Human Rights Watch issued its 2019 world report on human rights around the globe, in which it said that the Bahraini authorities continue repression in Bahrain through targeting dissidents and attacking freedom of expression and assembly.

Radio NPR said that the case of Rahaf Al-Qunun has highlighted Thailand's mixed record when it comes to asylum-seekers and refugees.

The Bahrain Court of Cassation, the country's court of last resort, on December 31, 2018 upheld a five-year sentence for Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights defender, an act that was condemned by Human Rights Watch.

It’s been a grim 2018 for partisans of free expression in the Gulf, said Joe Stork in an article published on the LobeLog website, mentioning the final appeals court rulings on the long prison terms of the leading human rights figures in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

The Australian SBS website stated that Craig Foster, former Socceroo and current SBS commentator, has challenged the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to support Australian refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi or resign.

Saudi Arabia should immediately allow independent international monitors to access Saudi women’s rights advocates detained since May 2018 to ensure their safety and well-being, Human Rights Watch said today.

Thailand’s government should ensure that Hakeem Ali Mohamed Ali al-Araibi, a recognized refugee, is not returned to Bahrain, said Human Rights Watch. If returned, he would face an imminent risk of wrongful detention and ill-treatment by Bahraini authorities.

The upcoming parliamentary elections in Bahrain, scheduled for November 24, 2018, are occurring in a repressive political environment that is not conducive to free elections, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

A Bahraini court issued on Sunday (November 15, 2018) 5-year jail term against 13 citizens.

Saudi Arabia has arrested two more women’s rights activists, the latest to be swept up in a government crackdown on activists, clerics and journalists, an international rights group said on Wednesday.

Bahraini authorities should restore citizenship to hundreds of nationals whose citizenship they revoked through executive orders or court decisions since 2012, rendering most of them stateless, Human Rights Watch said today.

Saudi Arabia detained two more women's rights advocates earlier this month and imposed a travel ban on several others in an ongoing crackdown in the conservative Muslim kingdom, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged Saudi authorities to disclose the whereabouts of a Saudi man with dual Qatari nationality whom Kuwait said it had deported to Saudi Arabia on May 12 at the kingdom’s request.

Human Rights Watch called on the United States to reject two planned arms sales, totaling nearly $1 billion (746.49 million pounds), to Bahrain in light of the Gulf country’s “dismal record on human rights”, the rights group said on Thursday in a statement.