Detention policy costs another life

Kathy Newnam, Darwin

Another man has lost his life while being held under the federal government's policy of detaining foreigners caught fishing in Australian waters.

Muhammed Heri was the captain of a fishing boat taken into custody by Australian authorities on April 18. He had been held for a week on his boat, in Darwin Harbour, with nine of his crew when he died from "natural causes" on April 31.

In February 2003, Mansur La Ibu died of "unknown causes" after being detained on his cramped fishing boat with six other men for a month.

Heri's boat was detained as part of the highly publicised Operation Clearwater — the largest ever crackdown on "illegal" fishing in Australian waters.

According to Asylum Seeker Resource Centre oordinator Pamela Curr, there are 90 Indonesian fishers being detained on 14 boats in Darwin Harbour. There are concerns that unaccompanied minors could be among this group.

Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific spokesperson Jon Lamb believes that the latest crackdown is "more about creating scapegoats than it is about dealing with the exploitation of fishing resources". He told Green Left Weekly that "the hype surrounding this crackdown is a continuation of the government's racist scaremongering against asylum seekers and its consequences are just as devastating".

From Green Left Weekly, May 11, 2005.

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From GLW issue 626