Airdate: The Defenders

Australian feature length documentary The Defenders will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June ahead of its release on Prime Video.

The Defenders is an incredible, nail-biting, race-against-time thriller which tells the gripping true story of Hakeem al-Araibi, a Bahraini footballer turned political refugee. In 2018 when Hakeem stepped off a plane in Thailand to begin his honeymoon he found himself surrounded by police with an Interpol arrest order accusing him of terrorist activity.

As Hakeem awaited extradition back to Bahrain, a rag-tag group of campaigners led by former Socceroos captain Craig Foster took action. The team of human rights activists, social media warriors, and ordinary Australians launched a campaign to #SaveHakeem. This is the true story of how a group of ordinary people battled against the odds to rescue a player’s life and try to save the very soul of football itself.

Friday June 23 on Prime Video.