Seventy-three people deported to China

Seventy-three people deported to China

By Sean Healy

The federal government has deported 73 people back to China after only five weeks of investigation. The group arrived at Christmas Island, off Australia's north coast, in December and has since been held in the Port Hedland Detention Centre.

Immigration minister Philip Ruddock said the Australian authorities did not believe the refugees had a well-founded fear of persecution, but he did admit that they could be punished on their return. He said all were "economic migrants" and therefore not entitled to refugee status.

However, Amnesty International said that, given the short time spent on investigating the refugees' cases, it doubted that the procedure used was fair. Amnesty spokesperson Des Hogan said: "It's difficult to know what will happen to them on their return. Deportees mostly just disappear, but we don't know if this is because they just assimilate back into the community or if more sinister things happen to them."

From GLW issue 391