The Asian Football Confederation has broken its month-long silence on Australian-based Bahraini refugee Hakeem al-Araibi’s detention in Thailand but has refused to answer questions on what, if any, involvement its president – who is a member of the Bahraini royal family – has had in his detention.

The “dismissive” responses from the AFC to questions from multiple groups advocating for Al-Araibi has prompted a former Australian football captain to warn world football bodies that they will be made to account for their actions should anything happen to Al-Araibi.

Al-Araibi, a professional footballer, was arrested last month at Bangkok airport on an Interpol red notice – of which he had no prior awareness – over a discredited vandalism conviction in Bahrain.

The 26-year-old, who was intending to holiday in Thailand with his wife, remains in Thai custody while Bahrain seeks his extradition and multiple international human rights groups, football teams and governments campaign for his release.

An AFC spokesman said the confederation was “working closely with Fifa and the FA of Thailand”.

“While this work is ongoing we will make no further comment.”

The AFC did not answer questions put to it by Guardian Australia about what action it had taken to support Al-Araibi, and any involvement in the case by its president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.

Al-Khalifa, who is also a vice-president of Fifa, is a member of the Bahraini royal family and was specifically criticised by al-Araibi in media interviews in 2016 for his lack of assistance when Bahraini athletes were targeted.

Al-Araibi was granted refuge in Australia after he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail. He has publicly described his arrest and torture at the hands of Bahraini authorities, which came amid violent crackdowns on protesters and specifically athletes during the Arab Spring protests.

The former Socceroos captain Craig Foster said al-Khalifa was “the elephant in the room”.

“His own government is requesting the extradition of the player, he’s part of the royal family and clearly has great sway there and yet to date … appears to have done absolutely nothing to advocate for Hakeem’s rights,” Foster said.

“Football shouldn’t be standing for this.”

Foster, who is a football analyst for SBS and outspoken advocate for reform in football, accused the AFC of being “nothing short of dismissive” and said responses from it and other football groups had been “meagre at best and extremely weak at worst”.

In a 19 December letter to the world players’ association, FIFPro, the AFC general secretary, Dato’ Windsor John, “duly noted” concerns raised in correspondence two days earlier.

“Kindly be informed the AFC is monitoring the situation closely and is in contact with Fifa and the respective members’ associations involved,” it said. “Please rest assured that the AFC takes this matter very seriously.”

Foster said Al-Araibi appeared to have become victim to a “perfect storm” of world football politics, with both Fifa and the AFC having elections scheduled for 2019.

“In the current environment it appears all the football stakeholders have their head below the parapet and no one is prepared to advocate properly, vocally, for Hakeem, other than the actual people within the actual Australian football community,” he said.

The Football Federation of Australia’s (FFA) response has also been muted.

A tweet from the FFA’s official account revealed its chairman, Chris Nikou, and its chief executive, David Gallop, met with Al-Khalifa in Qatar the day after Al-Araibi was detained.

A spokesman told Guardian Australia it was unaware of the detention at the time but there has been no indication of any attempt to speak to Al-Khalifa once the organisation was made aware.

Nikou is currently campaigning for a place on the AFC executive committee.

Al-Araibi’s Melbourne club, Pascoe Vale FC, has campaigned heavily for his release. It has been joined by leading Australian football figures, associations and Victorian clubs, with support from Amnesty International, international NGOs and recently the Australian Human Rights Commissioner.

“Presently, all the football community can do is to continue to raise the questions and let all of football know that should anything happen to Hakeem al-Araibi we will demand the chronology of everything they’ve done, including FFA,” Foster said. “If Hakeem ultimately is extradited back to Bahrain, then all of the football stakeholders should be held to account for their advocacy or lack thereof throughout this entire process.”

Al-Araibi’s situation has been complicated on several levels, crossing the politics of international football, of international diplomacy and of international law enforcement.

The Australian government, which granted al-Araibi refugee status in 2017, has demanded his immediate return, and human rights groups have warned Thailand it would break international law if it approved the extradition.

Amid outcry from human rights groups the red notice was withdrawn within days, but questions remain about how Bahrain learned he was traveling to Thailand, how they were then able to obtain a red notice against clear Interpol protocols preventing their use against refugees and why no flags were raised in Australia when its federal police force informed Thailand of his travel plans.

Interpol has repeatedly refused to answer questions and the AFP has declined to answer further questions beyond its previous comments.