adminDoha (Qatar) — A riot has erupted at a controversial offshore refugee-detention facility in Australia following the death of an asylum seeker.
Immigration officers and refugees confirmed yesterday a standoff between detainees and officers at the detention camp on Christmas Island, located more than 2,000 kilometres northwest of Perth in the Indian Ocean, after a Kurdish Iranian refugee died there.
Fazel Chegeni, in his 30s, was reportedly found at the bottom of a cliff.
“On Saturday morning [November 7] the department was advised of the escape of an illegal maritime arrival from Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre [CI IDC] by service provider staff.
“The matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police who commenced a search and discovered a deceased person today [November 8],” the Australian government said in a news release.
The Department of Immigration said staff and security have been withdrawn for security purposes and denied a large scale riot was taking place.
“The protest action began when a small group of Iranian detainees took part in a peaceful protest following the escape from, and death outside the centre, of a detainee on Sunday,” its news release said.
Currently, there are about 285 asylum-seekers at the Christmas Island camp. Section 501 of Australia’s Migration Act permits the deportation of a non-Australian citizen who fails the “character test”, the portal for which includes any prison sentence longer than 12 months.
A member of RISE, a rights group campaigning for refugee rights in Sydney, said refugees heard the Iranian man screaming for help, then later saw him in a body bag.
“The detention centre detains asylum-seekers under administrative detention methods, just like Guantanamo and just like Palestinian prisoners in Israel,” she said over the phone.
“These cases can’t be taken to court and the refugee him or herself sometimes doesn’t know what they are doing there.
“They could claim they are investigating the asylum seeker, but in the end it is punishment.
“Those who arrive by boat are not allowed to have mobile phones with them, but those who arrive by plane are. And if they manage to sneak in mobile phones, security does random checks where they take them away.
“In 2011, there were five deaths in eight months in a detention centre in the suburbs of Sydney. Two detention centres were destroyed following that. The government does not learn from its past experiences.”
Last week, human teeth were found in a meal served to an asylum seeker in the Manus Island detention centre, just a few days after almost 100 asylum seekers reportedly suffered from food poisoning. — AFP
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