{"id":974,"date":"2013-04-09T11:19:35","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T01:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org\/?p=974"},"modified":"2013-04-09T11:19:35","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T01:19:35","slug":"melbourne-asio-negative-refugees-begin-mass-hunger-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\/?p=974","title":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE ASIO NEGATIVE REFUGEES BEGIN MASS HUNGER STRIKE"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 2.00am, Monday morning (8 April), 28 ASIO negative refugees (24 Sri
\nLankan, 2 Iranian 2 Rohingyans) began a hunger strike at the Melbourne
\nImmigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre. They have
\ngathered on the playground inside the detention facility.<\/p>\n

The hunger strike comes after a series of self-harm and attempted
\nsuicides by ASIO negative refugees in Melbourne. These include: a
\nserious self harm incident by a Tamil refugee on 17 January, the third
\nsince Christmas 2012); and an attempted suicide on 15 November 2012.<\/p>\n

Most of the ASIO negative refugees have been in detention over three
\nyears, some for over four years.<\/p>\n

Their sense of frustration has grown since their adverse ASIO
\nassessment. Last year the High Court found that it was unlawful for
\nthe government to deny them protection visas because of an adverse
\nASIO assessment. Despite the court decision, successive Immigration
\nMinisters have refused to act and they remain in indefinite detention.<\/p>\n

A review of the ASIO security assessments has been initiated by
\nretired judge Margaret Stone. Stone met with ASIO negative refugees in
\nMelbourne on Wednesday 3 April and with those in Sydney on Friday 5
\nApril. But the meetings only confirmed that the process could still
\ntakes months and that Stone can only make a recommendation. ASIO and
\nthe Immigration Minister will still have the final say.<\/p>\n

The ASIO negative refugees are denied the same appeal rights of an
\nAustralian citizen. \u201cThey are meant to receive a summary of ASIO’s
\nreasons for the adverse finding, but the statement is a joke. It is
\nabout seven lines long, simply asserting what ASIO \u2018believes\u2019. There
\nis no evidence provided for that \u2018belief\u2019. It is an absolute denial of
\nnatural justice,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee
\nAction Coalition.<\/p>\n

The Afghan and Rohingyan refugees have not yet received their
\nstatement of reasons. \u201cYou can only imagine that ASIO officers are
\ncreatively working overtime, trying to make something up that could
\neven vaguely justify its decisions. If there were substantial reasons
\nto believe anyone was a threat to security, we would have heard about
\nit long ago,\u201d said Rintoul.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister has the power to end the torment and the travesty of the
\nindefinite detention of the ASIO negative refugees. The Minister must
\nuse his discretionary power to immediately release the ASIO negative
\nrefugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
“The refugees inside MITA detention centres were hoping for justice and freedom from the review process but their hopes have been crushed again as many remain in detention indefinitely with no answers,” said Feiyi Zhang from the Refugee Collective Melbourne.<\/div>\n
\nThe refugees have released a letter explaining their protest \u00a0– text below.<\/p>\n

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713, or Feiyi Zhang
\n0416 121 616<\/p>\n

LETTER FROM ASIO REFUGEES 06 04 13<\/p>\n

MESSAGE FROM THE ASIO REJECTED REFUGEES:<\/p>\n

We are 29 people here at Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation
\n(25 Tamils, 2 Burmese and 2 Iranian) and 56 people all over the
\nAustralian detention. We have been here for four years and more. We
\ncannot tolerate it any longer. We need to be released to save our
\nlives.<\/p>\n

At 2 a.m. today (Monday, April 8, 2013) we began a hunger strike
\ntogether. All 30 of us plan to keep doing this until there is
\nsolution, one way or the other.<\/p>\n

We will gather together in the grounds of the detention centre and
\nstay there until we get a solution. If the Australian Government does
\nnot release us, we ask that they kill us mercifully.<\/p>\n

We have painted banners as part of our protest. There is one that
\nshows many people hanging. That is what we want to happen to us if we
\nare not released. for life here. People in here are jumping off roofs,
\nthey are going on hunger strikes, they are taking tablets, they are
\ntrying to hang themselves……It is a cruel and inhumane environment
\nfor everyone.<\/p>\n

We plead with you, the Australian people, to help us. We are on the
\nedge of life and don\u2019t know how much longer we can stand it. We ask
\nPrime Minister Gillard, Immigration Minister O\u2019Connor,
\nAttorney-General Mark Dreyfus, \u00a0Opposition leader Abbott and ASIO
\ndirector David Irvine to stop this torture of all of us……. of men,
\nwomen and children, who have done nothing to warrant this cruel
\ntreatment that is destroying our minds.<\/p>\n

We ask the authorities: You say we are a threat to this nation. So if
\nwe are such people why have they now put women and children and
\nfamilies in here with us? We are willing to be released into the
\ncommunity under strict orders if they think we are threats, which we
\naren\u2019t. But whatever they want we will do.
\nBut we can\u2019t keep living like this. We are not in detention. We are in
\na cemetery.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want to die. We left Sri Lanka, Burmese and Iran because we
\nfear to die. We came to Australia to live, not die. But death would be
\nbetter than the life we have.<\/p>\n

SIGNED.
\nALL ASIO REFUGEES-AUSTRALIA.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 2.00am, Monday morning (8 April), 28 ASIO negative refugees (24 Sri Lankan, 2 Iranian 2 Rohingyans) began a hunger strike at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre. They have gathered on the playground inside the detention facility. The hunger strike comes after a series of self-harm and attempted suicides by ASIO negative refugees in Melbourne. These include: a serious self harm incident by a Tamil refugee on 17 January, the third since Christmas 2012); and an attempted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","post-has-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nMELBOURNE ASIO NEGATIVE REFUGEES BEGIN MASS HUNGER STRIKE - Refugee Advocacy Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\/?p=974\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adm1ncontrol\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"adm1ncontrol\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8421c2cda9cbc056a6d7a3338507e20b\"},\"headline\":\"MELBOURNE ASIO NEGATIVE REFUGEES BEGIN MASS HUNGER STRIKE\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-09T01:19:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974\"},\"wordCount\":822,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/04\\\/photo1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/refugeeadvocacynetwork.org.au\\\/?p=974\",\"name\":\"MELBOURNE ASIO NEGATIVE REFUGEES BEGIN MASS HUNGER STRIKE - 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