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AFP
Hakim Oreibi in Thailand
"I love Australia," said Bahraini footballer Hakim Oreibi, jailed in a Thai jail for more than two months on his arrival in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday.
"I'm not yet a citizen, but my country is Australia, I love Australia and I'm going to die in Australia," he said at Melbourne Airport after landing on board a Thai Airways flight departing from Bangkok.
He thanked his supporters who chanted, "Welcome home, wise!"
Television footage showed hundreds of supporters welcoming it. He wore a Pasco Valley shirt, a semi-professional team that plays in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.
Al-Oreibi, 25, was released Monday by the Thai authorities after Bahrain withdrew his extradition request.
He fled Bahrain in 2014 and obtained refugee status in Australia. He was arrested at Bangkok airport last November, when he and his wife arrived in Thailand for their honeymoon. He was arrested after Interpol issued an arrest warrant at his request at the request of Bahrain.
Source: Reuters
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