Opinion | If Fifa and AFC can ignore the FBI, then incumbent Al-Khalifa is a shoo-in for re-election to top posts
- US court documents from an April 2017 case state that third parties bribed an official to help Al-Khalifa and his faction take control of AFC
- At no point was it suggested that Al-Khalifa was involved in the conspiracy or that he knew about it
On February 9, an online news portal run by opponents of the Bahrain ruling regime published a controversial article on a “dangerous” claim made by Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa on the potential extradition to Bahrain of refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi.
The Bahrain Mirror, attributing its information to “two sources in the Bahrain sports field”, said Al-Khalifa had told the Gulf country’s Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa that his positions as AFC chief and Fifa vice-president – for which he seeks re-election on April 6 – would be unaffected by any move to return Al-Araibi to his native country from a prison cell in Bangkok, Thailand.
In addition, it claimed the AFC president – a member of the Bahrain royal family – actually supported the extradition of Al-Araibi, who was granted refugee status in Australia in 2017 and feared being tortured in Bahrain because he had publicly accused Al-Khalifa of being involved in the crackdown of athletes during the Arab spring.
Two days later, Al-Araibi was released, with Thai authorities saying Bahrain had abruptly withdrawn its extradition request.
Why did Bahrain, which previously maintained a hardline stance to have Al-Araibi returned, change its mind?
