Weekly Refugee Posting 1: Manus Island

Papua New Guinean police continue to investigate the murder of Reza Berati, the young asylum seeker killed at the Manus Island detention centre last week. No arrests have yet been made. In this posting I want to try to outline the information we have so far as clearly as I can.

Their preliminary report states that:

• Berati was killed by multiple blows to the head, probably with a piece of timber, which caused a blood clot on his brain.
  
• Local G4S guards were involved in the attack on the detainees; PNG police and local villagers were not.
  
• The detainees did not leave the compound; the violence took place inside it.

A leaked PNG police report on the night of the fatal violence states that:

• Two other young Iranian men with serious injuries (one to the back, one to the abdomen) were also taken to hospital.
  
• Some G4S guards were also attacked. (According to the witness below, some were injured by stones and some by detainees fighting back.)
  
• PNG police fired warning shots into the air. (How one detainee was shot in the buttocks when police only fired warning shots has yet to be explained.)

A local G4S guard, states that the protesters inside the centre were "swearing at us, they give us, they say, like, **** PNG and something like that. They don't like us. So they're harassing us. At the same they're throwing stones, pushing gates... The police fired warning shots and that scared the clients and they went into their rooms, so that's when the G4S went in. And when the G4S get into the camp, they belt, they fight with the clients and belt them very badly and some are wounded, blood run over their face." He also states that 10-15 local residents, armed with lengths of wood, joined the G4S guards in the attack.

A contractor describes an improvised hospital outside the staff accomodation block: "They were just makeshift beds. Transferees were carried in on sheets. Blood everywhere, crying. There were 30 or 40 clients down there. We had gunshot wounds, some with head injuries." A detainee told the contractor: "I did nothing, I wasn't involved in the protests, I was in my room, being good, trying to sleep. They came in my room... they dragged me out of my bed and beat me. They had huge rocks in their hands and they hit my head and my body with them." (This Guardian article also raises the question of which fences were pushed down and by whom.)

Migration agent Liz Thompson, who was present during the violence, resigned when told the official Immigration line was that Berati had been killed outside the camp. (As you'll probably be aware, this was the Immigration Minister's initial claim until he "corrected the record" five days later.)

A guard's report written the morning after states that PNG policed entered the detention centre, leaving at about the same time the officer in charge of G4S guards "lost control" of them.

Azita Bokan, formerly translator at the centre, describes a clash on the Sunday night between guards who picked up rocks and metal table legs to use as weapons, and detainees armed with fruit and plastic chairs. On Monday morning, she witnessed what she believes was a "brain dead" man, his face beaten to a pulp, being brought in a wheelchair to the medical centre. When the patient's friend would not relinquish the chair to G4S guards, seven of them attacked him. (After she confronted the guards, Immigration fired her on the spot.) That night, from the roof of the staff accommodation she saw injured detainees, including one with a severe head injury who apparently was DOA and another with a slashed neck.

To sum up, the accounts so far converge on one narrative

• The protesters were dissing and throwing stones at PNG G4S staff, who were outside the detention centre.
  
• PNG police fired warning shots; detainees, frightened, returned to their rooms.
  
• Then the G4S guards went into the centre, dragged detainees from their rooms, and attacked them - inviting local residents to join them in the assault.

Why were the detainees protesting in the first place? That's the subject of my next posting.

Weekly Refugee Posting 2: Manus Island

Why were detainees protesting? According to the leaked PNG police report, in the week before the violence, asylum seekers had submitted the following list of questions to the detention centre's management:

• Is there a process? What is it?
  
• How long are we going to be here?
  
• When will we have our freedom?
  
• Will transferees who have been deemed refugees in other countries be given priority in processing?
  
• Why is there no PNG Partnership?
  
• Some of the transferees have been interviewed some time ago, what is happening with our process? What is the hold-up?
  
• Who is responsible for us here on Manus - PNG or Australia?
  
• Why won't Immigration (department) allow media to come here and interview us?
  
• Will the Australian Government take responsibility for our mental health problems?
  
• The Playfair lawyer said there was a third country option, why can't we be sent to this other country?
  
• Why are our human rights not respected?

On Monday 17 February, the day of the fatal protest, management met with detainees and, according to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, were told that they would only be able to resettle in Papua New Guinea.

Migration agent Liz Thompson, who resigned after Reza Berati's murder, describes a Kafka-esque situation in which asylum seekers would be given misleading or vague information: "We are told to tell people, to keep them focused on resettlement in PNG. That resettlement in PNG is what's going to happen. But they know that's not the case. They know that. They watch the news, they read the newspapers. They know what's going on around the camp. They know there's no decision from the Papua New Guinean Government on resettlement. So what that means is, you are never getting out of this camp, it is indefinite detention. While we play this charade... We knew this was ridiculous. But we were lying to people and we were told to keep that message going, to keep it clear." (Gay asylum seekers in particular cannot be resettled in PNG, where they would risk prison.) "I believe that what happened was completely predictable and that it was allowed to happen. That tensions were allowed to build up. That the misinformation was allowed to circulate. That people were allowed to be, you know - kind of driven into a frenzy about what was going to happen."

Weekly Refugee Posting 3: Manus Island

Last stuff from Papua New Guinea; then a couple more for other topics.

The terms of review for the government's investigation into the fatal violence have been released. ETA: Looks like there will also be a Senate inquiry.

Although the security contract for the centre is changing hands, the new contractors will continue to employ local security staff. Hopefully this will not include those involved in the fatal violence.

A former Sri Lankan military officer is working as an operations manager at the detention centre, raising concerns for the thirty or so Tamils being held there. A Human Rights Law Centre spokesperson said: "There's a high likelihood that the Tamils being held there are fleeing persecution at the hands of the Sri Lankan military. This isn't about the activities of this one man. It's about [the] way that Australia takes care of the asylum seekers who are in its custody."

The ABC's Fact Check finds that both Australian and PNG are responsible for the detainees' well-being.

Humanitarian Research Partners report on the water and sanitation situation at the detention centre.

Investigative journalist Rory Callinan describes interference with Australian journalists reporting on the detention centre from G4S staff, the police, and even an Australian immigration official.

Human rights advocate Ben Pynt, arguing for journalistic access to the detention centres, makes the interesting point that "In the UK, where only some asylum seekers are detained, anyone can visit immigration detention facilities at any time." (Presumably because they are not, as Liz Thompson describes Manus Island, "designed as an experiment in the active creation of horror".) A former Australian MP working as a safety and security officer at the detention centre - now resigned - makes the interesting point that stories of heroic conduct by Australian staff on the night cannot be told because of the confidentiality agreements.

A ruling by PNG's Supreme Court clarifies the right of organisations to challenge the detention centre's legality.

Last but not least: Jon has written a heartfelt account of the candlelit vigil for Reza Berati held in Sydney and around Australia. It was wonderful to be part of the event, because images of, and messages from, the crowd would reach the asylum seekers still imprisoned on Manus. There's very little chance these postings will ever be seen by an asylum seeker, let alone be of any use to them, but what we all did that night will make a difference. Corragio!

Weekly Refugee Posting 4: other recent news

There's a petition up on change.org to prevent Rohingya asylum seeker Latifa and her infant son Farus to Nauru. (The Department of Immigration has found itself innocent of needlessly separating mother and newborn child.)

A Rohingyan couple on Nauru have opted for an abortion, rather than give birth only to have their child die in the detention centre's unsafe conditions.

Humanitarian Research Partners have requested documents under FOI on miscarriages on Christmas Island in November and December last year, as reported by several asylum seekers. The response was that the documents don't exist.

10 unaccompanied children have been sent to Nauru. (Save the Children provides support for children detained on Nauru.)

About 50 refugees are currently indefinitely detained in Australia after receiving negative security assessments from ASIO. The UN ordered that they be released no later than this week and compensated. It seems unlikely that the government will do so.

Human rights advocate Ben Pynt, arguing for journalistic access to the detention centres, makes the interesting point that "In the UK, where only some asylum seekers are detained, anyone can visit immigration detention facilities at any time." (Presumably because they are not, as Liz Thompson describes Manus Island, "designed as an experiment in the active creation of horror".)

A seventh boat carrying asylum seekers has been turned back to Indonesia. Clearly, the turn-back policy may be stopping boats from reaching Australia, but it is not stopping them from trying.

Afghanistan's Defence Minister says that the country is not safe for refugees to return to.

Finally, while I won't waste electrons here reporting on the irrelevant mudslinging in Parliament, I did want to mention the splendid word "Batman-ification", used by columnist Jacqueline Maley in her "sketch" of recent shenanigans in the House. She also draws a comparison to Animal House. Vale Harold Ramis. After this week we could use a bloody smile.