Around 12.30 am this (Thursday) morning, the man who has been in detention for 27 months, was found by fellow asylum seekers hanging by a bed-sheet noose in a secluded part of the facility.

Serco guards seemed not to be carrying the special Hoffman knives used to cut the nooses. He was still breathing when his fellow asylum seekers finally managed to get him down and untie the noose, but detainees were distressed about the time it took to get him down.

The man was one of two Tamils in the Airport Lodge who been granted a bridging visa to be released about three weeks ago. But the day before he was due to be released, he was told that his visa had been cancelled on security grounds

It is not clear, at this stage, if this referred to his bridging visa being cancelled or his substantive protection visa.

“This man is another victim of mandatory detention and the mis-management of the bridging visa release system. To snatch away the offer of a bridging visa in these circumstances amounts to institutional cruelty,” said Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson, Ian Rintoul.

“The arbitrary decisions about who and who is not being released is significantly adding to the mental anguish of asylum seekers. His friend had tried to hang himself, around four months ago, and now he is left in detention limbo. What possible reason is there for him to be in detention for 27 months?”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713

Why Darwin?
Darwin is rapidly becoming Australia’s detention capital. There are now three detention centres in Darwin with up to 1000 asylum seekers. When the newly opened centre at Wickham Point is complete it will have capacity for 1500 people alone. Chronic levels of self-harm and protest have put the Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC) in a state of perpetual crisis. The convergence this Easter, centred on Darwin, with simultaneous protests at other detention centres around the country like Villawood in Sydney, can again focus attention on the reality behind the wire.

Rally at Villawood

1pm Easter Monday April 9
Meet at Chester Hill train station

Over 4500 asylum seekers remain imprisoned in detention, including over 500 children. Chris Bowen’s announcement that 100 detainees a month will be released on bridging visas will not see the detention system dismantled. Since then, just 257 asylum seekers have received them, while a further 1078 have arrived by boat. There are now detention facilities in every Australian state and territory other than the ACT–including Villawood detention centre here in Sydney.

Marcel Marx, a former bohemian and struggling author, leads a simple life based around his wife Arletty, his favourite bar and his profession as a shoeshiner. His path crosses with an underage illegal immigrant from Africa, who needs Marcel’s help to hide from the police.  

Wednesday March Palace Verona Cinemas, 17 Oxford St, Paddington

Tickets $20 full/$15 concession

7.45pm Wednesday March 28

To book your ticket online, click this link

“a tale of lower-depths solidarity, a stylized and sentimental fairy tale about the way the world might be, grounded in a frank recognition of the way it is.” New York Times review

“all the master’s trademarked deadpan dialogue and delicious nuggets of bone-dry humour, and his compassion for the marginalised and dispossessed” The Guardian review

“In his own very special way, that combines wry deadpan comedy, a playful respect for the conventions of classical genre and an imitably exquisite blend of delicate absurdism and tender lyricism, Aki Kaurismäki has dealt with some of the pressing issues of our times”  Time Out London review

In the last two days, four people in the main detention centre have attempted suicide by hanging and overdose.

Another Kurdish man was taken from Airport Lodge to Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC) after placing six stitches in his lips two days ago. He has been in detention a year, was found to be a refugee nine months ago, but is still waiting for security clearance.

Yet, another man has dug a grave in the yard of N1 compound and is lying in it. Nursing staff and Serco officers have been appealing for him to end his protest and return to his room, but so far to no avail.

According to some of the asylum seekers inside the detention centre, the arbitrary nature of the recent release has also added to the tensions. One of those given community detention was someone who received a negative appeal decision only 10 days ago, while other long term detainees some waiting months for appeal decisions or just a long for court hearings are being ignored.

They are also concerned that immigration is not living up to its promises. After being told that at least 30 people would be released by the end of January, twenty-seven names were put forward. But eight people put forward for release have been left behind.

“We were told that there would be thirty released in January and then more and more after that, but case managers are saying they know nothing about any more getting out,” one NIDC asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition.

New arrivals to the NIDC have been shocked by the fact that some people have been in detention for two years and have received three negative decisions.

“There is no rhyme nor reason to the Immigration department’s arrangements to release people. Nobody knows the rules and nobody can explain who is eligible and why some people are released and others left behind. That stress is seriously compounding the mental toll of mandatory detention. People are left thinking they will never get out.

“The delays on ASIO security clearances are beyond a joke. There are two Afghan asylum seekers in Pontville waiting over 10 months for their security clearances. There is no reason for that. Bloody-minded bureaucratic delays are driving people to attempt suicide.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713

The protest will mark the start of a High Court case in Canberra, the outcome of which will determine the possibility of the government going ahead with deportations to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The case, which involves five lead cases has been set down for two day’s hearing by the High Court.

Late last year, the attempt to remove, Ismail Mirza Jan, the first Afghan asylum seeker under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Afghan government was only stopped by a High Court injunction when Ismail was joined to the High Court case.

Potentially this High Court case will have as significant an impact as the M61 case in November 2010 which gave all asylum seekers, both on-shore and of-shore applicants, the right to judicial review of their refugee assessments.

The fate of many asylum seekers presently regarded as “out of process” and slated for deportation rests on the outcome of the case.

The case will determine, whether, and in what circumstances, asylum seekers are entitled to procedural fairness regarding advice given to the Minister when making final decisions regarding appeals to remain in Australia.

If this case is successful, asylum seekers will be able to seek judicial review of such decisions.

“There are serious flaws in the refugee determination process that still need to be addressed,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “a win in this case will mean that the process is a little more transparent. That’s the least that can be asked when the Minister and departmental officials are making life and death decisions.”

The instructing firm of solicitors for the case is Sydney firm, Parish Patience Immigration Lawyers.

For more information, contact Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

Around 150, more than half of the Afghan asylum seekers at Pontville detention centre, are now involved in a hunger strike. The asylum seekers have been in detention between 15 and 33 months.

“We have been a long time in detention with no result,” one Pontville asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition on Monday night. “Immigration told us that we would get community detention and bridging visa to get us out, but there is nothing. We have been waiting too long.”

A smaller group of around 34 have been on hunger strike for seven days. So far, at least three of them have been hospitalised.

In the last two days, the hunger strike has been joined by over 100 other Hazara asylum seekers.

The Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) has been told that even more asylum seekers could join the hunger strike.

“The government has reneged everywhere on its promise to release detainees on bridging visas or community detention. The announcement was a cruel hoax,” said RAC spokesperson, Ian Rintoul, “There is nothing like 100 visas a month being issued and tensions are growing in all the detention centres.

“Darwin asylum seekers have been told there will be 30 visas by the end of the month, but so far there is no sign of that either. The Minister’s lies are coming back to bite him. The Pontville protest may just be the beginning. It is a disgrace that he can raise hopes and then smash them in this way. It is a form of mental torture. If there is a bigger wave of protests, the responsibility will be at the Minister’s feet.

“We are coming up to the anniversary of the protests on Christmas Island, you would think the Minister might have learned his lesson. The vast majority of detainees have indicated friends and relatives that are willing to assist them to live in the community. The only thing that is missing is the Minister’s willingness to act.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713.

The Australian government is currently attempting to deport Afghan Hazara asylum seeker, Ismail Mirza Jan, to Afghanistan. Never before has an Afghan national been forcibly removed from Australia to Afghanistan.

Ismail Mirza Jan

This would be a new low in Australia’s refugee policy, with the Labor Government sinking even further than the Howard Government in pursuing deporations to danger. Even high-ranking ministers in the Western-backed Afghan government have questioned Australia’s right to forcibly repatriate Afghan asylum seekers from Australia. If Ismail is deported, this will open the way for the deportation of scores of Afghan, and potentially other, asylum seekers – back to war torn countries, impending danger, or even a death sentence. Two Tamil asylum seekers, Emil and Vithuran, too were only saved from deportation by last minute legal action in December.

Recently Ismail received a temporary reprieve when the Federal Magistrates Court questioned whether he received “procedural fairness” by the Australian government in their attempts to deport him. Ismail’s deportation case will come back to the High Court on February 8. The refugee rights movement, and all those who oppose this move to forced deportations, have a short window of opportunity to build a broad campaign against the forced deportation of Ismail, and the terrible precedent it would provide for further deportations.

Speakers:

LES MURRAY
SBS soccer commentator who (with Dateline) recently returned to Hungary to find the people smuggler who helped his family flee the country in 1956

MIKE GREWCOCK (author of Border Crimes & UNSW Law lecturer)

EDWINA LLOYD (lawyer for Indonesian boat crew jailed on ‘people smuggling’ charges)

HADI HOSSEINI (Afghan Hazara detained on Christmas Island and in Darwin on his experience of being ‘smuggled’)

6pm-8pm Monday February 13
UTS Haymarket campus room B111, Quay St (opposite Paddy’s market)
Co-hosted by UTS Anti-racism club and Refugee Action Coalition

• Share the link to the event on Facebook here

• Download a poster to stick up at work or near where you live here

Tuesday 10 January, 1.00-2.30pm, 398 Hamilton Rd, Fairfield West

Speakers include: Ian Rintoul (RAC), Jenny Haines (Labor for Refugees), Senator Lee Rhiannon (Greens, NSW), Hadi Hosseini and Iraj Moghadam (recently arrived refugees)

The refugee rights movement is appalled that Immigration Minister Chris Bowen responded to the most recent boat tragedy that saw 200 people drown by escalating his relentless push for the failed policy of offshore processing.

“Not only is Mr Bowen continuing to flog the Gillard government’s ‘Malaysia Solution’ dead horse, he is bending over backwards to win the Liberals’ support in parliament for offshore processing”, said Mark Goudkamp from the Refugee Action Coalition.

“Yet even Labor’s offer to re-open detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island—hallmarks of John Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution’ which caused so much needless misery and suffering for people eventually found to be refugees—has been rejected by Tony Abbott. In the lead up to the re-opening of Parliament, one wonders how much lower Bowen can go in seeking the Liberals’ support for offshore processing.

“It’s incredible that Nauru is still being considered. The Nauruan government says that one of the former detention centres is now a primary school. Neither Abbott, nor now it seems Bowen, are perturbed by uprooting these Nauruan kids in so that Australia can again dump asylum seekers there.

“Julia Gillard should recall what she, as Shadow Immigration Minister, said in 2002: ‘The Pacific Solution is an expensive failure…Stay tuned for the removal of the multi-million-dollar a day naval blockade of asylum-seekers and the closure of the multi-million-dollar a day camps on Nauru and Manus Island.’

Ian Rintoul from RAC said: “It is completely mistaken to think that you can ultimately uphold the rights of refugees by systematically undermining them by sending asylum seekers to Malaysia or Nauru.

“During the years of John Howard’s Pacific Solution, asylum seekers still took boats to to Australia. The UNHCR estimates that around 1600 asylum seekers tried to get to Australia but were diverted to Nauru—plus another unknown number on boats were turned around or towed back.

“There has always been a humanitarian policy option, but Gillard and Abbott are too concerned with domestic politicking at refugees’ expense. A number of refugee advocacy groups, including the Refugee Action Coalition and Labor for Refugees and The Greens have advocated processing asylum seekers in Indonesia and guaranteeing refugee re-settlement from there. If this happened far fewer people would need to get on a boat.

“And if people-smuggling was decriminalised, boats could be prepared in the open. They could be equipped with life-jackets. They could inform the authorities when they were ready to sail, so they could be tracked or even escorted.”

But the Australian government has turned its back on refugees in Indonesia. Shamefully, despite promises of resettlement, 40 Tamil refugees stranded in Indonesia since October 2009 have been rejected by Australia and will be holding a protest in Medan next week. “We are calling on the Minister to make good the Labor government’s promises to the Merak Tamils and bring them to Australia,” said Rintoul.

For more information, call Ian Rintoul 0417275713 or Mark Goudkamp 0422078376

The Tamil refugees are part of the group of 254 taken to the port of Merak by the Indonesian navy at the request of then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in October 2009. More than two years later, having spent a year in detention and being found to be genuine refugees, the Australian government has turned its back on 40 Merak Tamils despite being referred to Australia by the UNHCR.

Most of the refugees are now living in Medan, but out of 134 Merak Tamil refugees still in Indonesia, only three families have been accepted.

The rejection has angered the Tamil refugees. They are already boycotting English and computer classes in protest. A bigger protest in Medan is planned for next week.

“The refugees have been shamefully treated by the Australian government. Their plight makes a mockery of the Australian government supposed concern for the safety of refugees at sea. It is rank hypocrisy. Their policies are pushing people onto boats. There is no other way to get to safety in Australia. The Australian government should not feign surprise if more Merak Tamils get a boat to Australia, ” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

Around 50 Merak Tamils took a boat to Christmas Island in 2010, and around 25 of them already have Australian protection visas.

“In 2009, then Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor, and other Ministers said that Australia would help resettle the Merak Tamils. Successive governments have reneged on that promise. They simply don’t care about the lives of refugees – neither those that are left in limbo in Indonesia nor those that lose their lives trying to get to Australia,” said Rintoul.

Two other Merak Tamils drowned attempting to get a boat to Australia in June 2010.

“There is no justice. We have been very patient for over two years, but we are losing patience. We were processed by the UNHCR,” Nimal, one of the Tamil refugees in Medan told the Refugee Action Coalition, “There is a big risk for us to get a boat to Australia. But are left with no choice. Is the Australian government is trying to kill us?”

“The UNHCR and the Australian government has let us down. We were promised that we would be resettled within a year. There is no future for us in Indonesia,” said Nimal.

The Australian government’s rejection of the Tamil refugees is also a slap in the face of the Indonesian government which has repeatedly requested Australia’s assistance to resettle the Merak Tamils. The head of Indonesia’s Diplomatic Security, Dr Sujatmiko, told the media in April 2010, “We need Australian people, the Australian government to help them.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713.

Interviews with representatives of the Merak Tamils can be arranged.