العربية
Human Rights activists produced an animated documentary entitled “The Story of Hakeem” in English with Arabic subtitles. It shows the details of the prosecution and security pursuit of Bahraini soccer player Hakeem Al-Araibi until his release in Thailand and his return to Australia.
Representatives of the four human rights organizations, the Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (GIDHR), the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, as well as Former captain of Australia’s Socceroos, Craig Foster, Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), and Pascoe Vale Football Club took part in the documentary.
In the documentary, Hakeem Al-Araibi tells his story in the voice of the participating human rights and sports figures. The short film also shows the role of Bahrain TV in inciting against athletes and causing their subsequent torture, through a famous episode of “Ma Alhadath”. It also shows the suffering of political detainees, deterioration of prison conditions and using various forms of torture, including electric shock and prisoners having to drink water and tea from Clorox and Flash bottles.
It is noteworthy that the film was prepared before the release of Hakeem Al-Araibi in Thailand, but after his release, the scenario of the film was modified.
The voice of the narrator featured several human rights and sports figures, who are Craig Foster, former Socceroos Captain, Elaine Pearson, Australia Director of Human Rights Watch, Diana Sayed, Crisis Campaign Coordinator at Amnesty International, Fatima Yazbek, head of Committee on Studies and Reports at GIDHR, Baqer Darwish, President of the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, Lou Tona, Pascoe Vale FC Chairman and John Didulica, CEO of the Professional Footballers Australia (PFA).
It is worth mentioning that the film was produced by the GIDHR, the BFHR and the PFA, and premiered at an honoring ceremony held at the Pascoe Vale Football Club, in the presence of prominent Australian sports and political figures.