Despite denials by both G4S and PNG police that they were involved in the murder of Reza Barati and attacks on 77 other asylum seekers on 17 February, local G4S workers and PNG police remain excluded from the Manus Island detention centre.
“The continued exclusion of the local staff and PNG police is a tacit admission by Scott Morrison that G4S and PNG police were indeed involved in the attacks on defenceless asylum seekers,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Asylum seekers remain in fear of their lives. Some who survived the brutal attack have told how guns were held to their bloodied heads. Many have since asked to be transferred to Delta Compound which was the compound not attacked on 17 February.”
Asylum seekers inside the Manus detention centre are demanding to be told the truth about the injured that are not yet accounted for. Some asylum seekers have not been heard from since the attack.
Asylum seekers inside the detention centre are demanding to be allowed to speak to the Iranian man wounded by gun fire on the night. “If he is alive, we should be able to speak with him,” one asylum seeker said from inside the detention centre.
“It is clear that Scott Morrison cannot guarantee the immediate physical safety of the asylum seekers let alone their long term security. He claimed he could guarantee asylum seekers safety if they remained inside their compounds – but he couldn’t then and he can’t now,” said Rintoul.
“If Scott Morrison had any decency he would resign. Reza was murdered on his watch and he has continued to try to cover up the truth. There was no riot; there was no protest on the night of 17 February.
“Despite attempts to restrict contact with the outside world, more and more eye-witness accounts confirm the attacks were carried out by local G4S and PNG police. The bullet-hole ridden walls of buildings in Mike Compound reveal the full extent of the PNG police involvement.”
An account received by the Refugee Action Coalition from a victim of the attacks reveals: “Refugees screamed for help from G4S officers. When they got closer, it became obvious that the people [allowed into the compound] were G4S officers armed with hand weapons such as wooden sticks, rocks, machetes and long swords. They attacked the refugees and started hitting them. Everyone was panicked as to why the G4S officers were behaving so inhumanely…Six people surrounded me and with the sticks they had in their hands started hitting me. I fell on the ground and the only thing I managed to do was to cover my head with my hands, so my face and head were less injured.”
“In the face of such accounts,” said Ian Rintoul, “Morrison’s statement that ‘more work needs to be done to protect the rights of asylum seekers’ is laughable considering his responsibility for the grossest possible violation of their human rights.”
For more information contact: Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
