Bahrain

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Tributes are placed outside the Cardiff City Stadium, Wales, for Emiliano Sala, Friday Feb. 8, 2019. Tributes are being paid across soccer to Argentine player Emiliano Sala, with the French league announcing a minute's applause before matches. French club Nantes says it will retire the No. 9 jersey worn by Sala before he was sold last month to Cardiff in the English Premier League. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)

Column: A sad, shocking week that tested football’s heart

By JOHN LEICESTER - Associated Press

In this Monday, Feb. 4, 2019, photo, Bahraini Hakeem al-Araibi, center, leaves the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's government insists it cannot free Hakeem who has refugee status in Australia until hearings on Bahrain's request for his extradition are completed.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thailand: Soccer player must go through extradition hearings

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA - Associated Press

Bahraini Hakeem al-Araibi, center, leaves the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. The soccer player who has refugee status in Australia told a Thai court Monday that he refuses to be voluntarily extradited to Bahrain, which has asked for his return to serve a prison sentence for a crime he denies committing.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Australia scraps game in Thailand, campaigns to free refugee

Associated Press

Former Australian soccer national team member Craig Foster, left, and Vice President of FIFPro Francis Awaritefe wait to meet detained Bahraini soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi as he arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. Al-Araibi who has refugee status in Australia pleaded outside a Bangkok court on Monday for Thailand to not send him home to Bahrain, which is seeking his extradition to serve a prison sentence for a crime he denies. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The Latest: Australia urges Thailand to release footballer

Associated Press

Detained Bahraini soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi, center, arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. Al-Araibi has said he fled his home country due to political repression and human rights groups and activists fear he risks torture if he is sent back. Bahrain wants him returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence he received in absentia in 2014 for vandalizing a police station, which he denies. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

The Latest: Thai court sets April hearing for soccer player

Associated Press

Detained Bahraini soccer player Hakeem al-Araibi, front left, arrives at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. Al-Araibi has said he fled his home country due to political repression and human rights groups and activists fear he risks torture if he is sent back. Bahrain wants him returned to serve a 10-year prison sentence he received in absentia in 2014 for vandalizing a police station, which he denies. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Australia urges Thailand free refugee soccer player

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA - Associated Press

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, file photo. Bahraini football player Hakeem al-Araibi answers questions from the waiting journalists as he is brought in to a court in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai prosecutors have submitted a request in court for Thailand to extradite to Bahrain a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Request made in Thai court to send soccer player to Bahrain

Associated Press

Australian rallies call for Thais to free Bahraini refugee

Associated Press

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, prison guards escort Bahraini football player Hakeem al-Araibi from a court in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand officially received a request from Bahrain to extradite a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia. The foreign ministry says the request for extraditing Hakeem al-Araibi has been forwarded to prosecutors for deliberation. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Wife of detained refugee soccer player appeals to Thai PM

Associated Press

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, prison guards escort Bahraini football player Hakeem al-Araibi from a court in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand officially received a request from Bahrain to extradite a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia. The foreign ministry says the request for extraditing Hakeem al-Araibi has been forwarded to prosecutors for deliberation. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Australian PM asks Thailand to free detained soccer player

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA and TASSANEE VEJPONGSA - Associated Press

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2014, file photo, Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq, speaks in Manama, Bahrain. Bahrain's highest court has upheld life sentences for the prominent Shiite cleric who led a now-shuttered opposition party and two of his colleagues. The ruling on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, targeted Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the Al-Wefaq political party and was a central figure in Bahrain's 2011 Arab Spring protests. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

Bahrain court upholds life sentences for opposition figures

By JON GAMBRELL - Associated Press

Former Australian soccer national team member Craig Foster talks to journalists at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand after meeting detained refugee Hakeem al-Araibi in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. FIFA has written to the Thai prime minister calling for the release of a Bahraini refugee soccer player who is in detention while embroiled in an extradition case. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

IOC backs FIFA’s calls for Bahraini player to be released

By The Associated Press - Associated Press

Former Australian soccer national team member Craig Foster talks to journalists at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand after meeting with detained refugee Hakeem al-Araibi in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. FIFA has written to the Thai prime minister calling for the release of a Bahraini refugee soccer player who is in detention while embroiled in an extradition case. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Ex-player seeks FIFA help for jailed Bahrain refugee athlete

By KAWEEWIT KAEWJINDA - Associated Press

Korea, Japan, Australia aiming to improve at Asian Cup

By JOHN DUERDEN - Associated Press

UN group says Bahrain arbitrarily detained activist’s family

Associated Press

Coaching heavyweights Lippi, Queiroz chase Asian Cup glory

By JOHN DUERDEN - Associated Press

Bahrain court upholds conviction against prominent activist

Associated Press

The Iranian Threat to Bahrain Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

Why Trump must tell Iran, ‘Hands off Bahrain’

By S. Rob Sobhani

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018, file photo, Thai prison guards lead Bahraini football player Hakeem al-Araibi from court in Bangkok, Thailand. Human rights groups and former soccer players on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Melbourne, Australia, have called on FIFA and the Australian government to intervene to stop a Melbourne-based refugee and semi-professional soccer player Hakeem from being extradited from Thailand to Bahrain. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Activists demand Thailand release refugee soccer player

By TREVOR MARSHALLSEA - Associated Press

Illustration on potential new alliances in the Middle-East by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

A modest Middle East detente

By Clifford D. May