Al Ain, United Arab Emirates: Asian Football Confederation officials have shut down attempts by reporters at the Asian Cup to ask Socceroos players about the case of Hakeem al-Araibi.

A former international soccer player for Bahrain who now plays semi-professionally in Melbourne, Araibi has been detained in prison in Thailand for nearly two months and his supporters believe his life is at risk.

Melbourne football player Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee, has been held in Thailand for months. Credit:AP

Bahrain is attempting to extradite him so he can serve a 10-year prison term for vandalising a police station. Araibi was sentenced in absentia in 2014 and says footage of him playing in a televised soccer match at the time of the alleged crime is proof of his innocence.

Araibi was granted refugee status and permanent residency in Australia in 2017, but was arrested at Bahrain's request in November upon his arrival in Bangkok, where he was planning to honeymoon with his wife.