Media Release March 30, 2011<\/p>\n
A Tamil asylum seeker, 26 year old, recently transferred from Christmas Island attempted suicide by hanging early this morning (Wednesday).<\/p>\n
It is understood he was alive when other asylum seekers cut him down from a tree and has since been taken to the medical centre. His present condition is unknown.<\/p>\n
The attempted suicide has highlighted the situation for many asylum seekers hurriedly shipped off Christmas Island. They have lost the sense of community that existed on Christmas Island and in many cases the move has resulted in them being separated from friends and sometimes relatives.<\/p>\n
In Curtin, those transferred from Christmas Island have had no access to phones or to computers compounding their uncertainty over the reasons they have been moved and their future. \u201cThe conditions are very bad,\u201d one Tamil told the Refugee Action Coalition, \u201cwe have no water, we have to walk 200 metres for water, there is a big problem for us here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSwapping one remote detention centre for another is not solution. We need an end to mandatory detention, not the expansion of the government\u2019s detention regime,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile other Hazara asylum seekers, mourning the death of Mohammad, the 20 year old Afghan man who suicided on Monday afternoon, are maintaining a vigil outside the medical centre.<\/p>\n
Asylum seekers are concerned that Serco and the immigration department are trying to cover up the circumstances of Mohammad\u2019s death. Asylum seekers have been told that representatives of the Hazara community, some travelling from Brisbane and Adelaide, will be arriving at the detention centre later today (Wednesday).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe atmosphere at Curtin is very tense,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, \u201cthe department has a lot of explaining to do. The isolation of Curtin is killing people. Now there are more complaints that letters advising asylum seekers of their refugee assessment are arriving a month or six weeks late.\u201d<\/p>\n
A cavalcade of refugee supporters will converge on Curtin detention centre at Easter.<\/p>\n
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417275713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Media Release March 30, 2011 A Tamil asylum seeker, 26 year old, recently transferred from Christmas Island attempted suicide by hanging early this morning (Wednesday). It is understood he was alive when other asylum seekers cut him down from a tree and has since been taken to the medical centre. His present condition is unknown. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"closed","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":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-press-releases"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","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=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}