A group of ex-Manus and ex-Nauru refugees and supporters in New Zealand held a protest outside the Australian consulate in Auckland yesterday calling on the Australian government to urgently medevac the seriously ill Iranian asylum seeker, Hatam Yekta, from PNG to Australia.
Many of those involved in the Auckland protest are now refugees in New Zealand and know Hatam from being detained with him on Manus Island in 2013.
The New Zealand protest builds on the calls in Australia for Hatam to be medivaced to Australia. Almost 6,600 people have signed in the two weeks since photos of Hatam’s emaciated condition emerged from the Paradise Hotel in Port Moresby.
For years, refugee advocates have been pushing for Hatam and another six refugees who are seriously unwell in PNG to be brought to Australia. Hatam was approved for evacuation to Australia in 2019 but the medevac legislation was repealed by the Morrison government in December 2019 before he could be transferred. Despite calls since then, successive governments have tried to wash their hands of the responsibility for the lives of the refugees sent to Manus Island.
“Time is running out. Without the treatment Hatam needs, he does not have long to live,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “Labor introduced the medevac legislation that should have brought Hatam to Australia years ago; the government needs to act before it is too late.”
