'Being stateless is not a crime!'

'Being stateless is not a crime!'

Andrew Hall, Canberra

Protesters gathered in several cities around Australia for the September 9 "national day of shame", marking stateless refugee Peter Qasim's seventh year in detention.

At the Canberra protest, refugee advocate Marion Le urged a change in the law following the recent High Court ruling that upheld the government's right to hold stateless people in jail indefinitely without a trial or any criminal conviction. Le highlighted the plight of eminent opera singer Valbona Kola,

a stateless refugee who has been a member of the South Australian State Opera Chorus but is not able to perform for a living after being denied a visa. Kola thrilled the crowd with several songs.

The immigration department locked its doors on the 25 activists who protested in Hobart.

Pictured is a Melbourne protest against Qasim's detention. Photo by Travis Drever.

From Green Left Weekly, September 15, 2004.

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From GLW issue 598