Protesting against the ongoing detention of football player Hakeem Al-Araibi, the Football Federation Australia has cancelled a proposed trip to Thailand as the under 23 men's national team prepares for its AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in March.

Responding to the Thai government's statement asking Bahrain and Australia to find a "mutually agreeable solution" in the case of Hakeem Al-Araibi, Dr. Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, said: "The Thai Government are clearly taking steps to negate their part in Hakeem's detention and pass the buck for their culpability."

The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press statement yesterday in which it said that Thailand had previously not been aware of Hakeem's case and does not have any prejudice against him.

A refugee Bahraini footballer who was arrested in Thailand while on vacation from his new home in Australia could remain in jail until August while a court decides on an extradition request from Bahrain, a Thai official said on Wednesday.

The Public Prosecution ordered on Saturday (February 3, 2019) the arrest of prominent cleric Sayed Majeed Al-Mashaal for 15 days pending investigation over charge of inciting hatred against the regime.

An Australian website said that the wife of detained footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi has sent an emotional appeal to Thailand's Prime Minister urging him to help return her husbandd to his house in Australia.

The Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (GIDHR) issued a statement saying that Hakeem Al-Araibi is one step away from being handed over to Bahrain which he fled.

Australian football player and analyst Craig Foster called to find a solution for Hakeem Al-Araibi case before the end of the week.

Bahrain's supreme court, whose verdicts are final, on Monday upheld a life term for Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman for spying for Gulf rival Qatar, a judicial source said.

The Asian Football Confederation said on Saturday that President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa had had no influence on their handling of the case of a Bahraini player arrested in Thailand in November over a prison sentence in his homeland.

Australian football player and analyst Craig Foster said that he demanded a meeting with FIFA administration on Monday.

FIFA sent on Wednesday (January 23, 2019) a letter to Prayut Chan-o-cha, the prime minister of Thailand, urging him to immediately release the Bahraini footballer Hakeem Al-Araibi, and demanding discussing Al-Araibi's case with representative from the Thai government.

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.

The American Foreign Policy magazine added Nabeel Rajab to a list of 100 figures whom it described as global thinkers and doers who had a profound impact on the planet in the last 12 month.

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.

Lucy Zelić, SBS Television Chief Football Host and SBS World News Sports Presenter, wrote a tweet yesterday saying she had sent a letter to the Thai prime minister calling him to release Hakeem Al-Araibi and urging him to allow his return to Australia as soon as possible.

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.

Al-Wefaq issued a statement on the World Human Rights Day, December 10, in which it stressed that BICI monitored 55 kinds of violations in 2011 only, but the Bahraini regime expanded the types and forms of violations following the issuance of the Bassiouni report.

Detainee Hani Ahmad Isa Marhoun announced starting a hunger strike in order to put an end to what he called "all violations and breaches in Bahraini prisons".