Activist faces deportation: 'In Australia I have no rights'

BY SARAH STEPHEN

PERTH — Ali Abu Al Chabab, a 22-year-old Palestinian refugee from
Lebanon, will fly back to Beirut on April 4 after his three-year fight
for refugee status in Australia was unsuccessful. Chabab's partner Ana
Kailis will fly to Lebanon with him. Although Kailis is an Australian citizen,
this doesn't assist Chabab's case for residency in Australia.

On March 15 and 16, Chabab spent 48 hours in detention, experiencing
first-hand the chilling reality of the government's discriminatory anti-refugee
policies.

“I am a third generation Palestinian refugee born in Lebanon”, Chabab
told Green Left Weekly. “I am recognised by the United Nations as
a stateless person and carry the official UN definition of refugee, but
as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon I don't have the right to nationality
and any other basic civil rights. There are 400,000 Palestinian refugees
in Lebanon, living in overcrowded camps. There are no unions to protect
Palestinian workers. We have no right to own land or to vote. The UN provides
education to year 10, then after that we have to pay. I can't go back to
my original country Palestine because of the Israeli occupation.”

When Chabab came to Australia he had to prove that he had at least US$25,000
to survive in Australia and proof of acceptance from a university. He also
had to pass a medical test and an English-language test.

Within six weeks of his arrival in Sydney on June 3, 1998, Chabab applied
to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) for refugee
status. DIMA rejected Chabab's application on the basis that he could live
in Lebanon. He then appealed to the Refugee Review Tribunal, but the appeal
was rejected after 12 months.

Finally, Chabab appealed to immigration minister Philip Ruddock. While
his case was being assessed, Chabab was granted a three-month bridging
visa. The visa conditions prevented him from accessing Medicare, social
security, English-language classes and government housing and prevented
him from working or studying.

In February 2000 Chabab joined Kailis in Perth. When he visited DIMA's
Perth office to update his visa, there was no interpreter present at the
interview. Chabab said that he didn't fully understand the content of the
visa application form he was signing. “What I understood from the officer
was that I didn't need to go back to DIMA until the minister had made a
decision, that the visa was open and there would be no more visas on my
passport. I gave them my address, phone and mobile number.

“At the DIMA interview, there was a major misunderstanding because of
language, and I found out only days ago that I should have been contacting
DIMA monthly. For almost 12 months DIMA did not contact me, either to clarify
the conditions of the visa or to advise me of any progress on my appeal.”

During this time, several people sent letters to Ruddock supporting
Chabab's case and received acknowledgements from his department. Chabab
assumed this meant that Ruddock had still not assessed his case.

Chabab advised DIMA when he and Kailis married in July. The department's
letter of reply stated: “It is currently taking some time to finalise requests
such as yours, but please be assured that you will be contacted by the
department when examination of your case has been completed.”

When he rang DIMA on March 14 enquire about the progress of his case,
Chabab was told that his visa had expired. The next day he was interrogated
for seven hours. DIMA officers told him that the minister refused his appeal
in May 2000. However, Chabab had never received any notification of this
from the department. At the end of the interview he was taken into detention.

Chabab said of his experience: “I feel that Australia is similar to
Lebanon. In both countries I have no rights. It has been a very mentally
exhausting and depressing experience to find that even in the heart of
'democracy’, people can be treated worse than animals, stripped of their
human dignity, and sent back to misery and fear of death.”

From GLW issue 442