Jamal, a 35 year-old Ahwazi Iranian asylum seeker on Nauru has been taken from the detention camp to the Nauru hospital this (Sunday) morning.
Jamal has been on hunger strike for 28 days, and for the last few days has been refusing water. It is believed Jamal has kidney failure.
Before he left the camp, Jamal repeated that he was on hunger strike to close Nauru, and “for this I die.”
Another hunger striker, Mehdi, has been on hunger striker for 32 days.
It is believed that Omid, who is now in a Brisbane hospital after being evacuated from Nauru on Friday, also remains on hunger strike for his 52nd day.
There are around 25 asylum seekers on hunger strike on Nauru, after another five began a hunger strike following Omid’s transfer to the Brisbane hospital. And there have been several more incidents of self-harm.
The 170-odd non-Sri Lankan asylum seekers are also maintaining their boycott of entry interviews which are falsely being portrayed as the beginning of refugee processing on Nauru.
“The desperate conditions on Nauru are going from bad to worse. The Minister has a callous disregard for those he has condemned to Nauru and Manus Island. He is directly responsible for the lives of Omid and Jamal and the other asylum seekers who are hunger striking for justice,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Shifting Omid to Australia has not ended the crisis on Nauru. But it has shown how simple the solution could be – shift all the asylum seekers to Australia and let them make application on the mainland like the other 8000 asylum seekers who have arrived since 13 August.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
