More than 50 people – like Ranjini and her children – have been found to be “genuine” refugees yet face a lifetime in prison not because of anything they’ve done, but because ASIO considers them guilty of thought crimes. Typically this involves having sympathies with the Tamil [...]]]> Free Ranjini – Free the refugees

More than 50 people – like Ranjini and her children – have been found to be “genuine” refugees yet face a lifetime in prison not because of anything they’ve done, but because ASIO considers them guilty of thought crimes. Typically this involves having sympathies with the Tamil Tigers or other sections of the Tamil liberation movement which is not that dissimilar to people in an earlier period having sympathies with the ANC in South Africa or the liberation movement in East Timor.

It should be noted that ASIO does not have to reveal their reasons for their assessment and the refugees in question have no right of appeal against this decision.

Ranjini has recently given birth to a new baby – who faces an entire lifetime behind bars unless the government can be pressured to release these refugees.

Join this vigil on the anniversary of Ranjini’s incarceration to ensure refugees like Ranjini can be freed!

5pm, Fri 10 May

Gather: Wesley Church corner (i.e. corner of William & Hay Sts). Then proceed to Cultural Centre.

Ph 0417 904 329 for more info.

DOWNLOAD: 4 x A6 flyers

To the 27 refugees currently on hunger strike at Broadmeadows detention centre, Melbourne — we support you unconditionally and are inspired by your courageous stand.

Our thoughts – and solidarity – are with you.

We condemn the utter depravity of the Australian government in continuing [...]]]> STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FROM THE REFUGEE RIGHTS ACTION NETWORK WA

To the 27 refugees currently on hunger strike at Broadmeadows detention centre, Melbourne — we support you unconditionally and are inspired by your courageous stand.

Our thoughts – and solidarity – are with you.

We condemn the utter depravity of the Australian government in continuing to lock up those fleeing from persecution, who have been found to be refugees under the government’s own processes, yet rejected without appeal by ASIO.

We support the calls made by numerous organisations and individuals, in Australia and internationally, for your immediate release.

The Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) WA

We have seen politicians engage in a race to the bottom in refugee policy. With the re-introduction of offshore processing and [...]]]> Refugee rights groups from around the country will be converging on Yongah Hill Detention Centre (Northam, WA) on the ANZAC day long weekend, 2013, to protest against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

We have seen politicians engage in a race to the bottom in refugee policy. With the re-introduction of offshore processing and the situation in Nauru becoming increasingly worse, now is the time to express public outcry at this abhorrent policy.

Ayslum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island have protested consistently about the woeful conditions and the lack of any indication about when asylum processing will begin.

We have seen countless times over, that mandatory detention destroys people and we have seen time and time again that a policy of deterrence does not work.

Help us fight for a humane refugee policy and to show solidarity with asylum seekers protesting in detention.

Watch the national website or the corresponding Facebook event page for updates and further details.

Download publicity material:
DOWNLOAD: A4 Poster

DOWNLOAD: 4 x A6 flyers

Sunday 16 June

1pm, Wesley Church corner (cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth city)

Demands of the rally include:
* Free the refugees
* No Pacific “Solution”
* End mandatory detention

We are encouraging [...]]]> The Refugee Rights Action Network has announced initial details for the World Refugee Day rally:

Sunday 16 June

1pm, Wesley Church corner (cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth city)

Demands of the rally include:
* Free the refugees
* No Pacific “Solution”
* End mandatory detention

We are encouraging all supporters of refugee rights to endorse and participate in this rally. Please contact RRAN if you organisation can offer support.

Please also print the following PDF files to help spread the word.

DOWNLOAD: A4 poster (can be enlarged to A3)

DOWNLOAD: 4xA6 flyers

Attend on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/514501425258944

We have seen politicians engage in a race to the bottom in refugee policy. With the re-introduction of [...]]]> Yongah Hill Convergence: 26–28 April 2013

Refugee rights groups from around the country will be converging on the Yongah Hill Detention Centre this ANZAC Day long weekend to protest against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

We have seen politicians engage in a race to the bottom in refugee policy. With the re-introduction of offshore processing and the situation in Nauru and Manus Island becoming increasingly worse, now is the time to publicly condemn this abhorrent policy. To do this, the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) will be returning to Northam’s detention centre to expose the cruelty and challenge the lies about our immigration detention system, and to show solidarity with the refugees and asylum seekers protesting in detention. If you are interested in joining the trip, you can register at http://refugee-rights.net/converge.

And even if you can’t make it out to Yongah Hill this ANZAC Day long weekend, you can still fight for the rights of refugees imprisoned in Australia’s immigration detention centres. Read on and support!

NOT IN OUR NAMES Project

If you can’t go to Yongah Hill, but want to contribute and state your opposition to this policy of violence against refugees and asylum seekers you can contribute to the NOT IN OUR NAMES banner. This banner will feature your name along with other contributors and will travel with RRAN activists to Northam and be displayed against the backdrop of the detention centre.

For the price of a ticket on the bus — your choice of $25 unwaged, $40 waged or $100 solidarity — you get your name on the banner and the knowledge that you have funded one more seat on that bus. You will also receive a photograph of the banner and RRAN in action.

And if you are so outraged that you need to support more…

For $200 you can SPONSOR AN ACTIVIST who will write a public account of their experiences and what they witnessed at Yongah Hill along with a private letter to you. These funds will go to the overall costs of RRAN’s operations, not to the activist themselves. But the funds will allow your particular RRANer to go where journalists don’t, to visit in detention and to organise further actions upon their return. And, you will also get your name on the NOT IN OUR NAMES banner and the photograph.

Donations can be made at http://refugee-rights.net/converge/register/ — just fill out the form there and put ‘Sponsor an Activist’ in the comments box.  Thanks!

***We understand that the location of Wilders’ speech will be kept secret until shortly before the event. His supporters claim that this is for his safety, but in reality it is [...]]]> PERTH: Wed 20 February
Venue and time to be confirmed

Click ‘attend’ on Facebook for updates: www.facebook.com/events/413641478719258

***We understand that the location of Wilders’ speech will be kept secret until shortly before the event. His supporters claim that this is for his safety, but in reality it is because he is scared that anti-racists will outnumber his racist supporters. Please add yourself to this event to get updates as we know more details***

Refugee Rights Action Network in Perth is calling all anti-racists to support a protest outside the speech by Dutch fascist, Geert Wilders.

Wilders is the founder and leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), and campaigns against what he calls the “Islamisation of the Netherlands”.

Wilders will be using this visit to spread his message of hate and intolerance. His views on immigration and Islam, including ending all immigration from Muslim countries and a 1000 euro licence to wear the hijab (which he called a “rag head tax”), contribute to the hysterical anti-Muslim climate generated by the War on Terror.

Politicians and the mainstream media have promoted both Islamophobia and wider xenophobic attitudes. They will inevitably give Geert Wilders saturation coverage when he arrives, helping to legitimise his abhorrent ideas.

We believe there needs to be a large, broadly-based show of opposition to Geert Wilders through a peaceful protest outside every appearance he makes in Australia. This is one of the few ways to ensure that he does not go unchallenged, and will make it harder for the media and right-wing figures to pretend he is raising issues that are in any way legitimate.

We have a responsibility to see that Wilders’ views do not pass unchallenged. Public protests make it clear that anti-racists will have our views heard. We ask all anti-racists to support and attend protests wherever he is organised to appear.

[This protest was initiated by Refugee Rights Action Network. Other groups are welcome to promote and endorse the protest.]

Click here to put your name on an SMS alert list for details as they emerge about the Wilders protest venue and time.

When: Thursday, 28 Feb, 2013
Time: 5:45pm for a 6pm start
Where: Tim Winton Lecture Theatre, Curtin University

RSVP by Monday, 25 February 2013 to g.galardi@curtin.edu.au or [...]]]> The Curtin University Centre for Human Rights Education and the Refugee Rights Action Network invite you to an evening with awarded author Robin de Crespigny.

When: Thursday, 28 Feb, 2013
Time: 5:45pm for a 6pm start
Where: Tim Winton Lecture Theatre, Curtin University

RSVP by Monday, 25 February 2013 to g.galardi@curtin.edu.au or (08) 9266 7169

With an introduction by Dr Caroline Fleay (Curtin University) and Marcus Hampson (RRAN), Robin will present her award winning book, The People Smuggler, and will talk about the researching and writing of this extraordinary story.

There will be opportunities for people to ask questions, meet the author and have a copy of the book signed by her. Books will be available for purchase on the night.

Robin de Crespigny is a Sydney film-maker, producer, director, writer and a former Directing Lecturer at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School.

The People Smuggler tells the true story of Ali Al Jenabi who, after fleeing Saddam Hussein’s torture chambers, is forced to leave his family behind in Iraq. What follows is an incredible international odyssey through the shadow world of fake passports, crowded camps and illegal border crossings, living every day with excruciating uncertainty about what the next will bring.

Robin won the 25th Human Rights Award for Literature in 2012 and The People Smuggler has also won the Queensland Literary Award and was one of three finalists for the Walkley Book Award. It has also been short-listed for the Waverly Library Award for Best Literature.

For more information, see the Facebook event page; flyer here.

In [...]]]> During this dire period for those seeking asylum in Australia, your ongoing support for refugees is invaluable. For refugees imprisoned indefinitely on Manus Island and Nauru, as well as the many thousands either in the mainland detention centres or in the community on bridging visa’s with no work rights, your support means so much.

In collaboration with activist groups across the country, RRAN hopes to create a groundswell of opinion against the current draconian refugee policy and make a change for the better.

But doing this costs money! If you appreciate the work that we do, could you spare some money to help facilitate a bigger and better campaign for refugee rights?

At the moment we are organising:

• Forum with Robin de Crespigny, author of The People Smuggler (February 28)
• Forum with Marcus Hampson/Sally Woodliff, RRAN members who have recently been investigating the situation for refugees in South-East Asia (March 7)
• Protest at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (March 15)
• National Convergence at Yongah Hill (Northam) detention centre, involving 3 days of protests (April 28-30)

Your financial support will help to make all of these events better and have more impact by going towards radio/print advertising, banners, placards, and all of the attendant costs of hosting the National Convergence. All donations, large or small, will make a difference.

Bank details:
Refugee Rights Action Network
National Australia Bank
BSB: 086 006
Account number: 531429447

At RRAN we strive to support, educate and PROTEST the policies. We hope the following words sent to us from an asylum seeker on Manus will inspire so we can continue to provide hope for a better Australia for asylum seekers.

I am a 30 years old Hazari woman from Quetta in Pakistan, the city that terrorists have turned into a place of violence. Here the days are like nights, dark and black. It is a city where mothers are grieving the loss of their children, where many women are wearing black in mourning from losing their husbands. It is a city where children are deprived of their fathers.

Quetta is a city where there is no peace, where my husband and I have fled the country to live in peace and safety. We travelled to Australia to do this and seek refuge, thinking that still there are people who value humanity and human beings. But through my experiences in the Refugee Camps I have lost my hope that I can be heard or helped.

I want to shout even for once in my life and to see if there is still someone who is valuing humanity and our lives. Is there anyone who can show me that humanity hasn’t died. Can I still be hopeful?

Refugee Rights Action Network organised a successful action in the Murray Street Mall on December 9 to mark Human Rights Day (December 10).

Participants and passers by were invited to dip their hand in red ink to make their mark for refugee rights on a banner. The new RRAN postcards were also available [...]]]>

Refugee Rights Action Network organised a successful action in the Murray Street Mall on December 9 to mark Human Rights Day (December 10).

Participants and passers by were invited to dip their hand in red ink to make their mark for refugee rights on a banner. The new RRAN postcards were also available for signing.

With Labor’s Pacific “Solution” set to claim its first fatality, the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) is holding an emergency protest tomorrow (Wednesday, November 28th) outside the office of Labor Senator Louise Pratt in East Perth.

Omid, the Iranian asylum seeker on Nauru who has been maintaining a hunger strike [...]]]> ***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

With Labor’s Pacific “Solution” set to claim its first fatality, the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) is holding an emergency protest tomorrow (Wednesday, November 28th) outside the office of Labor Senator Louise Pratt in East Perth.

Omid, the Iranian asylum seeker on Nauru who has been maintaining a hunger strike for 47 days now, is nearing the end of his life.

He sent out what could be his final message to the world yesterday:

My name is OMID SOROUSHEH LIC017 one of refugees in Nauru , me and 19 more are on trusts and hunger strike and today is 45th day for me that I don’t drink any water for 3 days and don’t eat any food for 45 days ; I don’t stop it until they transfer me back to Australia or let me die here, because what is different between me and others who come after 13th of august that they are going to take in bridge visa and going to city of Australia but me and 399 more must be stay here in very bad situation and when we ask them about the reason they answer us because of your bad luck the organisation which has responsible about it is DAIC and IOM and immigration of Australia . I send this letter to you to know about my situation and my friend’s situation

I want to know that dose human right decide just by refugees chance or refugees situations?
I want justice
I am human

I’ve never wish this situation for any human in the world. I want FREEDOM and NAURU must be close

Labor’s Pacific “Solution” destroys the lives of those refugees it is supposedly intended to protect, and is set to claim its first fatality.

RRAN will be staging a protest outside Louise Pratt’s office at 1pm tomorrow (Wednesday, November 28th), with a coffin and a shovel to symbolise the imminent death of Omid, and asking how many deaths it will take before the government abandons this barbaric and inhumane policy?

1pm Wednesday, November 28th
Senator Louise Pratt’s Office
81 Bennett St, East Perth

For more details contact 0417904329.

www.rran.org

Immigration raids and re-detentions have begun across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide this weekend. Immigration cars are watching houses where people are living lawfully on community detention conditions and bridging visas. There is fear among community based asylum seekers as those called to appointments are then seized and taken [...]]]> By Pamela Curr, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Immigration raids and re-detentions have begun across Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide this weekend. Immigration cars are watching houses where people are living lawfully on community detention conditions and bridging visas. There is fear among community based asylum seekers as those called to appointments are then seized and taken back to detention centres. These are men who have been detained in isolated detention centres already for more than two years which compounds their terror of being taken again.

When one person in a house goes to a DIAC (Immigration) and then does not return it sends fear into those left behind. In some instances they then have gone to stay elsewhere because they are unable to bear the waiting for their turn to come when they too will be taken. One man tried to return to get his papers on the weekend but saw the DIAC cars waiting for him so he spent the night in a park in fear. Other men who have cases filed in the court so cannot by law be deported and who would not normally be detained, have been told that they will be locked up no matter what. Their house has been raided three times since Friday.

The ordinary rules have changed. DIAC orders are now to raid, capture and detain those on community detention. In addition there are a large number of Hazaras whose bridging visas cease on the 29^th November and who are being told to go to DIAC offices with an airline ticket and passport for return to Afghanistan.

Currently there are three legal cases on foot which may affect these men’s status. It would seem that DIAC are acting before this can happen.

The two groups at risk are the Tamil and Hazara asylum seekers. The common factors in their cases are that they have not had a fair go. These cases were judged under the IMR system which has been discontinued and discredited. Some of the reviewers have been named in Court as showing “bias” and criticised for the decisions they handed down.  There was no redress for those whose cases did not get to the court but who were refused by the same reviewer on the same spurious grounds. An unofficial, un-documented PRE-process which was put together to quietly fix the terrible decisions only operated from BOAT 175 onwards. This has left a pool of people who fell outside both the faulty system and the faulty system fix. The difficulty in finding a lawyer and get to court because they were detained in far off WEIPA or Curtin detention centres has further cruelled any chance for a fair go.

These men also missed out on the Complementary protection provision which was introduced in March this year. This means that their cases were not examined against the torture convention or other international human rights conventions leaving them further at risk. Political edict saw the acceptance rates of Hazaras go from 99% in 2009/2010 to 30% in 2010/2011 be ministerial decree as the boat numbers grew. We have seen the same cases detailing persecution on grounds of ethnicity, religion and political belief dismissed because of political considerations when if they had arrived six months earlier they would have been accepted.  The statistical evidence screams politics rather than fair assessment in the treatment of these men.

What is most egregious about the kangaroo court injustice they have received is revealed in reading their cases.  We see case after case where the reviewer says that they accept that the asylum seeker is a “credible witness”, that the reviewer accepts that Family members were killed by the Taliban, that brothers and fathers disappeared at the hands of the Taliban, that the letters threatening them are genuine but still they refuse them on the grounds that they can “relocate” elsewhere or on the grounds of the DFAT cable which claims that Hazaras are experiencing a “golden age”. It is unbelievable that such bare faced political concoctions can be used to dismiss refugee applications but this is the reality.

NO SPIN OR GLOSS CAN HIDE THE FACT that people are about to be sent home to die for Australian political purposes.

P.S. Enablers in DIAC and the Government have got around the fact that the Afghan Ambassador, a decent man, has not obliged by providing travel documents to return Hazaras to Kabul. Enablers have found someone in Kabul the capital of corruption who is obliging! The Australian government’s cosy relationship with the Sri Lankan embassy and lashings of cash to the SL government for boats and surveillance equipment has been rewarded with compliance.

RRAN activist Alex Bainbridge conducted this interview with a refugee on Nauru late on November 12 – the twelfth day of the mass hunger strike.

On November 13, most refugees chose to end the hunger strike after news that Amnesty International would visit [...]]]>

RRAN activist Alex Bainbridge conducted this interview with a refugee on Nauru late on November 12 – the twelfth day of the mass hunger strike.

On November 13, most refugees chose to end the hunger strike after news that Amnesty International would visit the camp. Six refugees, including one man who had not eaten for 33 days, are continuing to refuse food.

* * *

This is our twelfth day of hunger strike and 10 to 13 guys collapsed. The guys are feeling very weak. They have dizzy heads. They are laying the whole day on their backs. Until now we didn’t get any response to our hunger strike.

Omid, one of the Iranian guys who [has been] on hunger strike [for] the last 31 days, today I talked with him.

I requested to him to please stop, please stop the hunger strike. He said no, it is better to die instead of living here. And also the doctor advised him that soon your brain and your heart would stop working and we will shift you to the hospital.

[The doctor said] you should give us one guy who, when you go into a coma, he will give us permission to give you treatment.

So he is weak. All the day he is laying on the bed.

Newcomers just arrived today. They were very worried, what we’ve seen on their faces. And some of the guys have also joined the hunger strike.

One thing [that] happened today [was that] one of the guys who was feeling pain in his tooth for the last week. So he was asking for treatment. The doctor told him first you have to eat, then we will give you some treatment.

So today what happened is he naked himself [stripped nakes]. He removed all of his clothes to protest. And the head of security there called police to make him afraid or to make him fear. But he didn’t stop. He was still naked.

One time, the other asylum seekers requested him to wear clothes so at last he wore the clothes.

Four or five asylum seekers made four or five graves like a cemetery. So this is because they have lost their mental control. So that is why they are doing this kind of thing.

To the Australian people I just want to say: Please, we need the help of the Australian people just to raise [your] voices for our rights and to put pressure on the government to just take us back from Nauru.

We are not criminals. We did not commit any sin. So we just want to say stop punishing us and take us back to Australia.

TO WHOM IT MAY COMERN

The government and people of Australia.

Today on 12/11/2012 is our 12th day of hunger strike.

25 more asylum seekers have been brought to the Nauru Hell from Darwin by force and fraud when they saw the worst condition of [...]]]>

Nauru Hunger Strike 3 Nov 2012 by Clint Deidenang

TO WHOM IT MAY COMERN

The government and people of Australia.

Today on 12/11/2012 is our 12th day of hunger strike.

25 more asylum seekers have been brought to the Nauru Hell from Darwin by force and fraud when they saw the worst condition of the detention centre they have also joined the hunger strike.

One another asylum seeker is suffering from the severe pain of tooth, from one week, instead of giving him treatment by the doctor; they called Nauru police, now he is out of order means, he naked himself in the whole camp.

We have seen four asylum seekers they have made imaginary graves for themselves because of losing their mental health.

Purpose of hunger strike is not to give us facilities here in Nauru Hell, we want to be shifted from this Hell Hole to Australia and our cases should be started immediately.

In this modern period no body wana keep a domestic animal in tent at a temperature of 42 Celsius for a day but unfortunately human being are living in Nauru Hell is such worst conditions.

In short period we have seen asylum attempted suiciding, self-harming, mentally disturbed, stressed, naked themselves, protests and hunger strikes. So what will be result in the future?

We request to the government and people of Australia save our lives and future.

Regards
Asylum seeker in Nauru

Refugee groups have called solidarity protests for Thursday, 8 November in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin – details below. The Sydney protest plans to make phone contact with the hunger [...]]]> The mass hunger strike by asylum seekers on Nauru enters its seventh day with around 300 people refusing food.  The latest statement from the hunger strikers is pasted below.

Refugee groups have called solidarity protests for Thursday, 8 November in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin – details below. The Sydney protest plans to make phone contact with the hunger strikers on
Nauru at the rally.

Around 10 of the hungers strikers required medical attention yesterday (Tuesday), but the figures for Wednesday were unknown.

Unconfirmed reports say that up to 50 the asylum seekers stopped drinking after midday yesterday.

There are also mounting concerns at the health of the Iranian who is now in the 27th day of his hunger strike. Asylum seekers on Nauru say he is very thin and getting weaker. “He stands for 10minutes, not
more,” one asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition.

A Red Cross delegation visiting Nauru met with the protesting asylum seekers yesterday (Tuesday). It seems they are on a fact-finding mission and to meet with representatives of the Nauruan government.
They told the asylum seekers, “We cannot do anything about the Nauru or the PNG law. But we can send your message to the Australian and the Nauru governments.”

“We remain extremely concerned with the deteriorating conditions on Nauru,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition. “The asylum seekers are in a desperate situation. They feel they have
nothing to lose. Over 6000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia since 13 August. Dumping 377 asylum seekers on Nauru has done nothing but put their mental and physical health at risk. It is a disgraceful
abuse of human rights for them to be victimised for coming to Australia to seek protection. It is no crime to seek asylum.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

Solidarity Protests – Thursday 8 November

Sydney: Department of Immigration, 22 Lee Street, Sydney (near Central
Station), 12.30pm

Melbourne: Department of Immigration, cnr Lonsdale and Spring Sts
City, 12.30pm (Contact Chris: 0403 013 183)

Perth: 12.30pm DIAC office, 836 Wellington St, West Perth

Darwin:  Darwin Airport Lodge Vigil, Thursday 8 November, 5:30pm

LETTER FROM ASYLUM SEEKERS OF AUSTRALIA ACCOMMODATED IN NAURU

Dated 6/11/2012,

We asylum seeker of Australia after too much difficulty and risk to
our life [in our country] arrived to Australia to seek asylum.
Uunfortunately, we were shifted to Nauru.

It is almost two months; we are living here with very basic needs of life.

Till now we are waiting for our asylum claims and we are hearing
different answers.

Last time when the immigration minister visited here he said your
process will be started after seven or eight months and it will take
years. In case of rejection you will be deported to your country. If
you want to go back to your country IOM is present here to help you.

In a meeting held on 3/11/2012 with the DIAC explained us that in the
end of November we will start the project of a permanent detention
centre and your process will be start in six months and we were told,
“I have no answer how long you will be here.”

For constructing a camp which includes all the infrastructure and
accommodation, including electricity and rest of the facilities in a
faraway Island which is located in the last point of the world’s map.
Even the drinking water will have to be taken from Australia which is
also faraway from Australia. How much time the project will take?

The number of asylum seekers who had been arrived after 13th of august
to Australia are almost six thousands and number are increasing
constantly.

Only 380 asylum seekers have been transferred to Nauru. How is it
possible to transfer more than six thousand peoples to two small
islands when no camp has been built?
How long we have to stay till the camp is prepared. Is this possible?

Is the sending of 380 asylum seekers to teach other [asylum seekers]
not to come to Australia, otherwise you will be treated in the same
manner.

Can human rights re respected when innocent and helpless asylum
seekers are being punished for others?

The moral of 45 days of protest and the sixth day of hunger strike is
that we need help.

An ASIO-negative Tamil refugee attempted to hang himself at the Villawood detention centre overnight. The man has been in detention for over three years.

He was taken to the emergency department at Liverpool hospital and has now been admitted to the hospital.

Despite the finding of [...]]]> MEDIA RELEASE: ASIO NEGATIVE REFUGEE ATTEMPTS SUICIDE AT VILLAWOOD

An ASIO-negative Tamil refugee attempted to hang himself at the Villawood detention centre overnight. The man has been in detention for over three years.

He was taken to the emergency department at Liverpool hospital and has now been admitted to the hospital.

Despite the finding of the High Court in early October that refugees cannot be denied a protection visa because of a negative ASIO assessment, there has been no obvious progress either in their protection visa applications or in finding alternatives to their indefinite detention.

The refugee had grown increasing concerned at the treatment of his brother who is also in detention. A hand written letter given to his case officer three days ago, warned of his concern at his helplessness, frustration and despair at the inability of the Immigration Department to provide proper treatment for his brother.

“I am hoping that you can provide the right solution for the mental frustration I and my family members are feeling… These circumstances have resulted in me not being able to sleep, not able to eat or do any activities. As a brother and as a son, I have been forced to not provide the care I should. Australia has given me a controlled life within a locked area… My brother is not being given proper medication or care. Under the circumstances, if I am able to give my life in order to get him medical care, I will do that in the near future.”

Friends and advocates are shocked that such a tragedy has been allowed to happen.

“This is a tragedy that should never have happened,” said Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, “This is bureaucratic inertia and bloody-mindedness of the worst kind. They have trashed any idea of duty of care to those that are detained. The department has allowed this catastrophic situation to develop because detention is their first and last resort.

“To have been warned, as they have been, and to do nothing in these circumstances is criminal.

“The unjust and prolonged detention has taken a huge toll on the ASIO-negative refugees. The hope of October has given way to despair as the department seems excruciatingly slow in responding not just the visa claims but to an urgent humanitarian crisis. It is time to free the ASIO negative refugees.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul on 0417 275 713.

Banner above for Thursday’s action

Banner painted by Sarah Ross in solidarity with refugees on Nauru