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Foster is in Bangkok to participate in the fight for the release of Hakeem Alaraibi, who was granted refugee status in Australia after fleeing the crackdown of the Arab Spring, but who was arrested while trying to vacation in Thailand at the end of November.
Her case was then put in the spotlight when a young Saudi woman named Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun avoided the same fate by barricading herself in a hotel room and tweeting requests for help. at the beginning of the month, thus ensuring asylum in Canada within a week.
Alaraibi, who has played for the Bahraini national team, accuses of taking part in riots that damaged a police station, but said he was playing in a match at the time.
Human rights groups say that he faces a 10-year sentence of imprisonment when he is fired.
He thinks he's being targeted for criticizing aloud and opposing the presidential candidacy of FIFA, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, in the presidential election.
FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Thai Prime Minister and Chief of the Junta, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, requesting permission to let Alaraibi go home.
However, Foster told reporters in Bangkok that this "is not enough" and that FIFA might consider sporting sanctions against Thai and Bahrain football federations.
"It is in this case a decisive case to test the effectiveness of the new human rights policy implemented by FIFA," Foster said. Foreign Correspondents Club Bangkok.
He visited Alaraibi at the Bangkok remand prison this week and said the footballer was in a "very low psychological state".
A 60-day detention period ends on February 8, but Bahrain has not yet filed a formal extradition request with the court, his lawyer said this week.
Human Rights Watch said Alaraibi had met with Thai police after getting off the plane and that they had received a copy of his pbadport at the age of 16.
Foster, activists and the Alaribi football team in Melbourne, where he plays for semi-professional Pascoe Vale, have all turned to social media to raise public awareness, hoping that the same pressure exerted by al-Qunun could help.
They use the hashtag #SaveHakeem after the #SaveRahaf campaign.
But the head of Thai immigration said the two cases were different and that there was a warrant for arrest against Alaraibi.
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