Serco and Immigration staff at Villawood detention centre are desperately trying to force an 83 year-old Iraqi asylum seeker, Fatima, into a wheel chair so she can be taken to the bus to be transported to the airport and then to detention in Darwin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are calling on the Minister to call off the transfer. Brutalising an 83 year-old is too high a price for the bureaucratic convenience of the Immigration department. The mother and daughter can easily be accommodated in the Villawood detention centre. Indeed a psychiatric report has recommended that Fatima be placed in the community,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
“You might think at 83, having fled Iraq and UAE, she would be entitled to some peace, security, and proper care,” said Rintoul.<\/p>\n
The IHMS doctor at Villawood has refused to examine Fatima to make a report on whether Fatima is \u201cfit to fly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Fatima\u2019s 38 year-old daughter, Intisar, says that her mother is too sick and upset to fly \u201cShe is lying in bed and cannot move,\u201d Intisar told the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
Despite her reports of kidney and other pain and her history of heart problems, Serco and immigration have spent hours trying to force her onto the bus.<\/p>\n
Refugee supporters have been at the gates of Villawood detention centre since 6.30am this morning to protest against the forced transfers of asylum seekers from Villawood to remote and less accessible detention centres.<\/p>\n
The report of the self-immolation of a Tamil refugee on Thursday night has also shocked and outraged refugee supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat an asylum seeker could be driven to such desperation is directly attributable to the government\u2019s harsh policies punishing bridging visa holders and the flaws in the refugee determination process,\u201d said Ian Rintoul.<\/p>\n
A major rally and march to \u201cDeclare Peace on Refugees\u201d will be held on Palm Sunday, 13 April, 1.00pm Hyde Park. Speakers include, Phil Glendenning (Edmund Rice Centre), Hazara Youth Perspectives, Firas Naji (Arab Council Australia) and Aboriginal activist, Dulcie Flowers<\/p>\n
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Serco and Immigration staff at Villawood detention centre are desperately trying to force an 83 year-old Iraqi asylum seeker, Fatima, into a wheel chair so she can be taken to the bus to be transported to the airport and then to detention in Darwin. \u201cWe are calling on the Minister to call off the transfer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-3226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-press-releases","7":"tag-villawood"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/311091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}