Free for four hours

One month of campaigning against the inhumane detention of queer Pakistani refugee Ali Humayun has resulted in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) granting him one four-hour home visit on May 31. Humayun spent the time with his partner, Julio Lorenzo.

"It is clear that because Ali is homosexual, he will suffer persecution if he is forced to return to Pakistan", Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) refugee-rights campaigner Rachel Evans said. "A couple in Pakistan has just been given three years' jail and fined $200 for being in a same-sex relationship.

@point = "We are demanding that DIAC give Ali Australian citizenship immediately and release him into the community. Four hours out of detention is a start, but he must be freed."

Humayun will be speaking, via telephone, at the launch of CAAH's same-sex marriage campaign on June 20. The launch will be held at 6.30pm in room 10 at ACON, Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills. For more information, phone Rachel on 0403 798 420.

From GLW issue 713