09-08-2004, 10:22 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Junkie
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Does this make you embarrassed to be Austalian? It should...
Quote:
Six-year detainee pleads for freedom
September 9, 2004 - 3:49PM
An asylum seeker about to enter his seventh year in detention is pleading for his freedom, saying he will work hard "with a grateful heart" if he is released.
Peter Qasim, a Kashmiri national, has completed his sixth year of detention in Australia and said he could not be imprisoned forever without hope.
"Please give me freedom," he urged, as he told of fleeing torture and violence as a teenager in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Mr Qasim has been in immigration detention since entering Australia in 1998.
The now 30-year-old has been held at detention centres in Perth, Curtin, Woomera, and now Baxter in South Australia, at an estimated cost of about $400,000.
Refugee groups are calling for government action to end his plight.
Mr Qasim has been refused visas in Australia but cannot be returned home to India because the government does not recognise his nationality, in effect making him a stateless person.
In a statement released on his behalf by Justice for Refugees SA, Mr Qasim pleaded for compassion.
"Please give me freedom. I would work hard with a grateful heart but I cannot be imprisoned forever without hope," he said.
"I came here hoping for refuge from the fighting in Indian-occupied Kashmir in which my father was killed and I was tortured as a 17-year-old.
"The Indian government will not recognise my nationality, leaving me stateless.
"I have asked 80 countries to take me, but they have all refused."
Mr Qasim's cause was taken up by the Australian Democrats, who urged Prime Minister John Howard to show compassion.
Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, the Democrats' foreign affairs spokeswoman, said it was heartless for the government to detain anyone for such a long period of time.
"Following last month's High Court ruling on indefinite detention, Mr Qasim now faces the possibility of being detained in Australia for the rest of his natural life unless the government intervenes in his case," she said.
"I urge the government to exercise one of the many forms of ministerial intervention available, including granting Mr Qasim a refugee visa or, at a bare minimum, a bridging visa."
The High Court ruled last month that it was lawful for stateless asylum seekers to be detained indefinitely.
But Senator Stott Despoja said she had written to Mr Howard urging action.
"It's heartless and inhumane for the government to detain people for such long periods of time," she said.
"Mr Qasim has not committed any crime, yet has now been detained for longer than some convicted criminals."
Senator Despoja's comments came as mayors and councillors from six Melbourne councils called on the government to reduce the amount of time asylum seekers were detained.
Nine Melbourne local government officials, including Darebin Mayor Rae Perry and Port Phillip Mayor Dick Gross have toured the Baxter detention centre.
"We believe the reality of long-term detention of asylum seekers is a disgrace," the officials said in a joint statement.
Other Melbourne councils involved in the visit were Yarra, Whittlesea, Hume and Moreland.
Sydney Morning Herald - http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...530750824.html
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I just don't know where to start. Let's just say it's a bloody disgrace.
Mr Mephisto |
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