The Bahrain Center for Dialogue and Tolerance said it documented the arrest of more than 5,000 prisoners of conscience, as well as 200 victims of excessive use of force, murder and torture, the Middle East Monitor website reported.

The Guardian reported that Bahrain has been found guilty by a UN body of arbitrarily detaining three relatives of a British-based human rights activist as a reprisal for his protest in London against the visit of the country’s king in 2017.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has reiterated Australia's deep concerns over Thailand's detention of a Melbourne-based refugee footballer in a meeting with senior Thai government figures, reported SBS News.

Australian football player Craig Foster said in a tweet that "Day [yesterday] 38 of detention for Hakeem Al-Araibi," urging to write to president of FIFA, president of Asian Football Confederation, Prime Minister of Thailand, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, Prime Minister of Australia and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia to support Al-Araibi's case.

The Washington Post newspaper said that courts in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Monday upheld the convictions of two prominent human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Ahmed Mansoor.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the decision by Bahrain's court of cassation on 31 December to reject citizen-journalist and human rights defender Nabeel Rajab's appeal against his five-year jail sentence.

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.

The Australian SBS website said that an international criminal justice watchdog has released a letter criticizing the Australian government for facilitating the detainment of Bahraini refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi.

The Australian SBS website stated that Football Victoria has urged its 350,000 members to get in contact with Australian government officials to call for the release of Bahraini footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi.

Human rights groups along with current and former soccer players on Saturday called on FIFA and the Australian government to intervene to stop a Melbourne-based refugee and semi-professional soccer player being extradited from Thailand to Bahrain.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper stated that lawyers for Hakeem Al-Araibi have lodged an urgent request for Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to grant the refugee footballer Australian citizenship.

Activists criticize British shadow minister’s praise for Bahraini government.

Supporters of the Australia-based refugee Hakeem al-Araibi have petitioned the United Nations to seek the young footballer’s freedom from a Thai jail cell, where he awaits extradition to Bahrain over a conviction he says is politically motivated, reported the Guardian.

A former Thai foreign minister and veteran diplomat has urged his government to free the refugee footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi from detention and halt the extradition process to Bahrain, reported WAtoday newspaper.

former Bahrain international footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi told media outlets and activists that Thai and Bahraini governments are working together to extradite him so that he'd be tortured in Bahrain, despite having the right to political asylum in Australia.

Amnesty International said in a statement on its website that Bahraini refugee Hakeem Al-Araibi is in imminent danger of deportation from Thailand, despite his status as a recognized refugee in Australia. His forcible return to Bahrain would violate international law, it stressed.

The Australian Football Nation Radio website said that the Pascoe Vale footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi, detained in Thailand and wanted in Bahrain, awaits confirmation as to whether he will be allowed to return to Australia, the country he calls home after fleeing Bahrain.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), expressed their deep concern over the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Naji Fateel.

The SBS Australian News website reported that a Bahraini refugee who has Australian permanent residency has been arrested in Thailand and now faces deportation back to the Gulf state.

Human rights activist Sayed Ahmed Al-Wedaei said that detainees Naji Fateel and Ali Hajji were transferred to solitary confinement after publishing audio recording in which they talked about the torture they are subjected to, impunity policy as well as negligence of their right to treatment by Jaw Prison administration.