Two of the 14 Medevac hunger strikers at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre have been hospitalised after ambulances were called at 1.30am, Monday morning (21\/06\/2021).<\/p>\n
Fourteen Medevac refugees at MITA began the hunger strike protest last Thursday night (17 June).<\/p>\n
The hunger strikers are demanding to be released. More than 100 of the 192 refugees brought from Manus and Nauru for medical treatment or family re-union have been released into the community on bridging visas. But none have been released since February 2021, despite the government stating \u2018progressive release\u2019 was government policy.<\/p>\n
Then Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, claimed that holding Medevac refugees in detention \u2018was too expensive\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe on-going detention of Medevac refugees is much too expensive,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, \u201cToo costly in financial terms, but far too costly in terms of human lives. July 19 will mark the beginning of their ninth year in detention.<\/p>\n
In May, more than 60 Medevac refugees wrote to new Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews, requesting that she use her discretionary powers to release those remaining in detention. They are still waiting.<\/p>\n
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two of the 14 Medevac hunger strikers at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre have been hospitalised after ambulances were called at 1.30am, Monday morning (21\/06\/2021). Fourteen Medevac refugees at MITA began the hunger strike protest last Thursday night (17 June). The hunger strikers are demanding to be released. More than 100 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":15954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17,26],"class_list":["post-15953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-press-releases","tag-detention","tag-medevac"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t