Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa should be disqualified from his positions as vice-president of Fifa and president of the Asian Football Confederation if Hakeem al-Araibi is returned to Bahrain, the head of the World Players Association has said.

Al-Araibi, a Bahraini refugee who has permanent residency in Australia, has spent two months in Thai detention after he was arrested on an erroneously issued Interpol red notice at the request of Bahrain – the country he fled.

Brendan Schwab, executive director of the World Players Association, which represents about 85,000 athletes worldwide, said sport’s relatively recent codification of human rights protections meant al-Araibi’s situation was “simple”.

“We’ve made it clear in our submissions [to Fifa] that there is a proactive duty to act,” Schwab told the Guardian. He said Salman had until 8 February – the deadline for Bahrain to file its formal extradition papers to a Thai court – to show he was fit to hold office.

“If not, he should be disqualified and is clearly not qualified to stand for election,” Schwab said.

The Thai government has refused to bow to pressure from international governments, human rights groups and world football bodies.

Football organisations including Fifa and Football Federation Australia have issued increasingly strongly worded statements calling for Al-Araibi’s release, but they and the AFC have avoided asserting their influence on Salman, a member of the Bahrain royal family and the target of criticism by Al-Araibi in 2016.

Al-Araibi believes he was arrested because of his criticism, which came as Salman was campaigning to become Fifa president – a role he is seeking again in this year’s Fifa election.

The World Players Association has written to Salman, but has received no response. Salman has said nothing publicly about Al-Araibi’s case, despite intense lobbying because of the power he holds in football and as a member of the Bahraini royal family.

“We haven’t had, in two months, a statement from Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa,” Schwab said.

“That must surely disqualify him from holding the position he has.

“He’s preventing [the appointment of] someone who could use that position to bring about the outcome that’s needed.”

The AFC communications office has repeatedly declined to answer questions or provide a comment from its president, saying only that it is working with Fifa.

At an Asian Cup pre-game news conference with the Socceroos on Friday, AFC officials stepped in to shut down questions from the media about Al-Araibi, SBS reported.

My question about #HakeemAlAraibi shot down at Australia's #asiancup2019 press conference today. Opposition from the moderator, then coach said the matter had been addressed by the FFA. Wondered why so little talk on this subject at this tournament - seems it is off-limits — Talek Harris (@TalekHarris) January 24, 2019

Schwab said every executive in football, including Fifa president Gianni Infantino, had the same obligations, and they should also face disqualification if nothing was done.

Al-Araibi’s detention was a test case for the human rights policies developed and codified across sporting organisations following revelations about the abuse of migrant workers in Qatar.

“The game faces a fork in the road,” Schwab said.

“We’ll either have a situation where Hakeem is saved and the game’s rhetoric and commitments about human rights are meaningful, or we have the horrific alternative that despite these commitments, a player can be subject to the most fundamental human rights abuses, of refoulement.”

The football analyst and former Socceroos captain Craig Foster has lobbied intensely for Al-Araibi’s freedom, and on Friday wrote directly to Infantino.

In response to a letter from Fifa sent directly to the Thai prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, Foster said it was a “welcome first step” but more had to be done to fulfil the world governing body’s human rights obligations.

“The circumspection of football politics has contributed in large part to Mr Hakeem’s life and liberty being in imminent danger and it will be no comfort once his immediate future is either spent in a Thai prison, or experiencing a recurrence of the torture in Bahrain that he suffered in 2012, to say that we ‘tried’,” said Foster.

“This is not a case about extradition. It is about refoulement.”

Foster outlined seven actions required as a minimum for Fifa to fulfil its obligations, including having a Fifa official present at al-Araibi’s legal appearances, and threats of sporting sanctions against Bahrain.

Response to @FIFAcom letter to @prayutofficial of yesterday: "If this was your life, or mine, we would expect nothing less than maximum efforts to be expended, with haste, and the soul of football demands that you and I agree on this point." #SaveHakeem pic.twitter.com/TLsV5Af6eP — Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) January 25, 2019

The Bahraini government last week told the Guardian there was no threat to al-Araibi’s life, that Bahraini trials were “independent and transparent”, and that claims of prisoner abuse were investigated.

The Australia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said Bahrain’s comments were “absurd” and multiple reports and investigations had documented “persistent failures in the Bahrain justice system”, with numerous instances of detainee abuse and torture.