Omid Sorousheh enters his 48th day of hunger strike on Nauru as he waits for an answer from the Minister for Immigration, Chris Bowen.
The 35 year-old Kurdish Iranian asylum seeker was taken to hospital from the Nauru detention camp yesterday morning, after less than a day in the camp.
Tragically, Omid is being kept in a room by himself and there are no arrangements in place for asylum seekers from the camp to visit him.
“It would seem the least that the immigration authorities could do is allow visitors to see Omid,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
As Omid kept a lonely vigil in the Nauru hospital, the Nauru asylum seekers released a statement (signed by all asylum seekers on Nauru, see below) calling for the Nauru detention camp to be closed.
Nineteen asylum seekers are on hunger strike, including Omid and another Iranian who is in his 28th day.
The desperation continues to takes its toll. Two of the hunger strikers self-harmed yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and were taken to medical centre for treatment.
“Minister Bowen has shown a callous disregard for Omid and the other asylum seekers transferred to Nauru. Is Chris Bowen really going to impose the death penalty on asylum seekers for simply seeking protection in Australia?,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“His ‘no advantage’ principle doesn’t apply to Nauru. The asylum seekers on Nauru are being victimised. Why aren’t asylum seekers on Nauru being processed and released into the Australian community?
“Nauru is not a disincentive to seeking asylum. That much is obvious. If Chris Bowen can shift to allow work rights for refugees on bridging visas, he should be able to admit that Nauru was a mistake and save Omid’s life. It seems the only thing standing between life and death for Omid, is Chris Bowen’s pride.”
The Refugee Action Coalition is calling on the Immigration Minister to not let Omid suffer yet another day on hunger strike before he intervenes.
The Refugee Action Coalition has called a “Don’t Let Omid Die, Close Nauru” protest on Friday, 12.30pm at the electorate office of Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek’s office, 150 Broadway, Chippendale.
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
Statement from Nauru asylum seekers, 27 November:
We, Iranian, Afghani, Iraqi and Pakistani asylum seekers being shifted by force from Australia to Nauru say: If there is a law, it should be same for all asylum seekers.
We don’t want our process to be start here in Nauru according to Nauru law. We are asylum seekers of Australia. We don’t know Nauru. We want to be taken back to Australia to start our process.
Some other asylum seekers who arrived after 13th August are still in Australia and soon they will be released on bridging visas in Australian communities.
Why are only 400 asylum seekers to be processed offshore out of the 8000 asylum seekers who have arrived after 13 August. Are we not same as other asylum seekers?
We don’t want to be processed in Nauru, we want to be treated the same as the rest of the asylum seekers are being treated.
We want Nauru to be closed. We want justice.
The conditions here are against humanity.
Regards Asylum seekers in Nauru Hell
(We have a hard copy of the same letter with the signatures of all asylum seekers)
