Posts
This
is an appreciation of the Kurdish man whose suspicious death on
Christmas Island triggered rioting that has been brutally put down.
Fazal
Chegeni R.I.P
I
know this man. He was held in Brisbane detention for a long time.
Understanding of events are unfolding even as I write - I would like
to add my own to what has already been written and will update this
as more information comes in..
Fazal’s
friends reported him missing from the North West Point detention
Centre on Friday 6 November his body was returned on Sunday 8
November.
Fazal,
a man in his early thirties, was indeed a very quiet and kind man.
Very private too. His death and the circumstances surrounding it has
sent shockwaves around the nation. Refugees and Australians are in
mourning and the number of guards has increased in detention centres
in full knowledge that this is a devastating tragedy and that the
gentle Fazal should still be live.
I
have many friends who were very close to him. Yesterday some of them
held a memorial to honour him. Over 200 people gathered in Darwin
alone and many tears were shed for this precious man. Their grief is
intensified by the knowledge that Fazal’s body, when returned to
the Christmas Island detention centre, bore bruises that speak of
brutality. Knowing Fazal and having personally witnessed and
experienced so much violence and mental cruelty in detention over the
last two years they are convinced he was killed.
Here
is some of his story … I have added my information to what has
already been published by Ian Rintoul and Pamela Curr.
Fazal
was a stateless Kurd. That means he belonged to a persecuted ethnic
group (in this case within Iran) and had no actual homeland to return
to.
Fazal
had been brutally beaten and tortured in Iran and, as a result, had a
medical condition that caused him great discomfort and interrupted
his sleep. His friends in Darwin described how he was very ill, often
holding his head whilst his body shook. He could only sleep with the
help of medication. IHMS medical “proved unsatisfactory.”
He
arrived in Australia by boat in October 2010. He was given refugee
status: “Refugee Positive - Security Positive.
Fazal
was held in detention for years. No reason was given. Eventually he
discovered he had been labelled a “Person of Interest” (POI)
because of an incident in the Curtin centre.
The futility and
desperation of his plight, detention without explanation, inspired a
suicide attempt - he jumped off the MITA (Melbourne Centre) roof.
When he recovered he decided “God does not want me to die so I must
try to live.”
After
this he was released into community detention in Melbourne for
several months. He lived in the northern suburbs and enjoyed bike
riding and walking his friends dog until the Minister suddenly
revoked his visa after he was charged with assault.
Fazal
had been an accidental victim during an altercation at Curtin
Detention Centre on 22 December 2011. In fact his nose had been
broken, his face smashed and his hand crushed.
The
CDPP charged him with assault and the Minister had 5 men prosecuted
by a QC in the Magistrates Court in Perth. The video footage of the
evidence showed that Fazal had not hit anyone but this was ignored.
He was given a good behaviour bond, which finished long ago, but he
was not released from detention again.
Under
‘Torture and Trauma’ protocols Fazal should only have been kept
in detention as a last resort.
Fazal
spent some time in Brisbane’s Toowong Hospital receiving specialist
mental health care before being returned to Brisbane’s BITA
detention accommodation.
Once
again he was overwhelmed with grief and he tried to jump off the BITA
roof. He was punished by being sent to Darwin’s Wickham Point
detention centre which has a reputation of being an incredibly
isolating and stressful place.
Earlier
this year Fazal received news that his sister had died. He was
distraught and refugee friends gathered around him for days to keep
him from trying to harm himself.
An
Australian friend, one who knew him from Brisbane, visited him in
July of this year, not long after the loss of his sister. She was
shocked to see how grey his hair was and how old and skinny he had
become. She described him as a shadow of the man she knew.
Soon
after this Fazal tried to jump off the compound roof. His friends
talked him down. They told me that Serco’s response was to put him
in a cage and send him off to Christmas Island. In fact he was
despatched to CI during the same brutal round up that had lawyers
complaining of “excessive force” being used in an ABC News
article on September 22nd. I heard the story before it was actually
in the papers as friends that witnessed it were re-traumatised by
this event. The write up said:
“Armed
officers dressed in black with shields and helmets allegedly forcibly
transferred 12 detainees from the Wickham Point Detention Centre in
Darwin to Christmas Island in the early hours of Saturday morning,
asylum seekers say..."I saw the detainees all being taken out of
their rooms and they were zip tied in front of the officers like
handcuffs all lined up with 20 officers right beside them," he
said.
"The
officers had shields and helmets... and they just ripped them out of
their rooms, they just pulled their blankets off them and told them
to get up and that they were tying them up." (Link below).
Accounts
of Fazal’s disappearance from the Christmas Island detention centre
are still blurry. He was gone for two days. Some believed he was in
the community prior to the disappearance but that seems to have not
been the case. Friends mentioned him talking of a “longing to just
be outside.” He suffered as most held indefinitely for no reason,
from the well documented symptoms of trauma and depression associated
with detention longer than twelve months.
One
person in the settlement area thought they saw a man walking down a
track called, “the incline” in the early hours of one morning and
another lady believes she might have seen him on her property. She
states she had no sense of being in danger at all.
Nevertheless
escaping from Christmas Island detention Centre is nigh on
impossible. “It has 3 layers, including electrified fences and
razor wire. Detainees do not live in the community although some have
small excursions, accompanied by Serco guards.”
Apparently
Fazal appeared at the detention centre after being gone for two days
and was apparently distressed. The ABC News is currently reporting on
an alleged riot in the centre with testimony from one detainee who
believes he heard Fazal return. "I clearly heard him in the
morning screaming for help, and the next thing I see they be bringing
him in a body bag, and after that the whole place went into
lockdown.” The report states that detainees are fearfully
barricading themselves in their rooms as others protest against a
"cover-up" of the truth about Fazal’s death. Some,
perhaps ones who experienced the attack on the Manus Island compound
in February 2014, fear that guards will enter with guns instead of
batons. (link below)
Such
is the secrecy surrounding death and abuse in detention centres it
will not be surprising if guilty persons go unpunished. Those in
Nauru are not protected from ones who have raped and abused and
tortured men women and children and nobody has been prosecuted thus
far for deaths in detention elsewhere. Two PNG suspects are on trial
for the beating that led to the death of Reza Berati but the
Australian guards seen kicking him as he lay on the ground have thus
far escaped justice.
Three
hundred men are protesting the death of their friend in Christmas
Island.
Fazal
was well loved and respected. He will be widely mourned and not
forgotten.
[END]
'Excessive
force' allegedly used in transfer of Wickham Point detainees to
Christmas island
Christmas
Island: Immigration Department confirms 'major disturbance' after
buildings torched following detainee's death
.
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