The Refugee Action Coalition will hold, a protest Thursday 18 December, 12.30pm at Sydney Immigration office, Lee Street (near Railway Square) to protest against the government’s program of forced removals.
Gulistan, a Hazara asylum seeker yesterday became the third Afghan asylum seeker to be forcibly deported to Afghanistan since August. Gulistan is the latest victim of concerted efforts by the government to intimidate and coerce.
“We are calling on the Minister to urgently intervene to stop the removal of a Chinese asylum seeker, scheduled for Friday 19 December.
“And we are calling for him to urgently intervene in the case of an Iranian asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 46 days,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
Wei Lin, a professional athlete in China, has already faced persecution and harassment in China after exposing the use of performance enhancing drugs in Chinese sport in the late 90s.
He told the Refuge Action Coalition, “I feel that my forced deportation into danger is an act of violence and a violation of my human rights, against which I have no choice but to struggle in any way I can.”
Legal moves are underway to try to prevent Wei’s removal. “If the removal goes ahead, the Minister will be complicit in the human rights abuses of the Chinese government.”
Meanwhile, a 33 year-old Iranian asylum seeker re-detained in August is on his 46 day of hunger strike.
The man is one of a number of Iranians re-detained since August, although the Minister well knows that the Iranian government will not accept forced deportations from Australia.
“This man was re-detained in spite of the fact that the government knows he cannot be sent back to Iran. The government is using the threat of indefinite detention to coerce him and others into ‘voluntarily’ returning to Iran. It is a pointless form of torture,” said Ian Rintoul.
“We have serious concerns that he may have already have suffered permanent organ damage. The Minister is literally playing with this man’s life.”
For more information, contact Ian Rintoul, mob 0417 275 713
