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Messages for Refugee Week

By Jane Salmon - posted Wednesday, 17 June 2020


From Mostafa (Moz) Azimitabar, detained without sunlight for 8 months in the Preston Mantra Hotel in Melbourne.

This is my message : We are one family and one nation. Today part of this family is locked up in jail, in detention. My message to this beautiful family is love.

My own message for Refugee Week is a bit less benign.

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How can we do this to our fellow humans? Even pets are allowed sunshine and a run in the park! So much for "health" care under Medevac! These are people kept hostage to deter boats for over 2500 days.

These are people who have committed no crime apart from picking an unpopular mode of arrival.

On the weekend at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane a socially distant crowd of refugee supporters sang "Amazing Grace", "Blowing in the Wind" and chanted "Let Him Hug His Son".

The story of the separation of one Kangaroo Point detainee from his family has moved many.

The mostly loving but sometimes boisterous crowd outside Kangaroo Point is now said to be intimidating to the 130kg Serco gorillas who have caged 110 innocent Medevac detainees for up to a year. We are caging whom and for what? This is not a David Attenborough film with the cameras turned on inmates and keepers alike. Who needs defending from these exhausted refugees? Noone!

These people are as calm and dignified as depressed, unvisited inmates, medically under treated inmates could possibly be.

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Today, slender detainees are not currently receiving food because vehicle inspections by demonstrators have hurt Serco's feelings. (The detainees have asked us not to complain).

Men such as Farhad Bandesh were moved for speaking out. Last Friday Farhad Rahmiti in Brisbane has been isolated with criminals in the high security Thompson compound of BITA. Apparently he is just a bot too articulate.

Meanwhile Dutton has politicised the AFP, is seeking to extend his security powers and ban mobile phones. Ministerial discretion is used to torture the Biloela family on Christmas Island but not the high rollers, cronies, gamblers & church goers that the LNP favours.

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About the Author

Jane Salmon is a refugee advocate of some 8 years. Her degree was in Government at University of Sydney.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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