AUSTRALIAN Federal Police did not know Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi was a refugee who feared persecution in his homeland when the agency alerted Bahrain and Thailand that he was on a flight bound for Bangkok, Australian officials said today.

Australian Border Force (ABF) Commissioner Michael Outram told a Senate committee he blamed human error within his own agency for a failure to email to police Araibi’s refugee status in time. But Outram would not concede under questioning by senators that the 25-year-old former Bahrain international would not have been arrested in Bangkok on November 27 without the Australian tip-off.

“I apologise for the error that occurred within the ABF, but I can’t say, nor can I accept, that that error necessarily led to his detention in Thailand that would have occurred anyway,” Outram said.

Police Deputy Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour told the committee that Bahrain and Thailand were alerted by police almost six hours before Araibi landed after a nine-hour flight from Melbourne on his honeymoon.

The bungle drew the Australian government, international football bodies and human rights advocates into a top-level dispute with the Thai and Bahraini governments to gain Araibi’s freedom. He was detained at the airport and was held 76 days under threat of extradition to Bahrain before he was released last week and returned to Melbourne.

The rules of Interpol prevent a Red Notice from being issued for an acknowledged refugee to be sent back to the country from which he or she fled persecution.

Australian officials face days of questioning by a Senate committee this week to determine how the blunder arose.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the committee that police did not know that Araibi was a refugee and did not have access to his visa status when Bahrain applied for a Red Notice to Australia’s Interpol bureau on November 9.

The Australian Border Force did not advise Australian police that Araibi was a refugee until a day after he was detained in Thailand, Colvin said.

Interpol subsequently withdrew the Red Notice, but Bahrain did not drop its bid to extradite Araibi until last week.

Jabbour said Bahrain issued the Red Notice on the same day Thailand issued Araibi a tourist visa.

“I cannot comment as to what was the trigger” of the Bahrain Red Notice, Jabbour said.

On whether Thailand knew before Australia’s notification that Araibi was coming, Jabbour said: “We didn’t get a response either way whether this came as news to them.”

Thailand said in a statement two weeks ago: “We would not have become involved in the issue had we not received the Red Notice alert from the Australian Interpol and the subsequent formal request by Bahrain for his arrest and extradition.”

Australian law does not allow for Araibi’s arrest in Australia under a Bahrain Red Notice and warrant.

Bahrain had wanted Araibi to serve a 10-year prison sentence for an arson attack that damaged a police station. Araibi has denied those charges, which he was convicted of in absentia, and says the case was politically motivated.

He said he believed he was targeted for arrest because of his Shi’ite faith and because his brother was politically active in Bahrain. Bahrain has a Shi’ite majority but is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.

Araibi says he fled Bahrain because of political repression and that he fears torture if he returns.