BY TONY ILTIS
MELBOURNE — While lawyers and visitors have been denied access to Iranian detainees at Australia's refugee concentration camps, Iranian government officials have been given access, Greens spokesperson on refugees Pamela Curr told 50 activists picketing the Melbourne immigration department offices on May 14.
The picket was also addressed by Iranian refugees and members of the Refugee Action Collective, who organised the protest.
The action was organised to draw attention to the threatened deportation of Iranian refugees and collusion between the Australian and Iranian governments. Speakers pointed out that while the government echoes US accusations about Iran's poor human rights record to justify imperialist militarism in the Middle East, by handing refugees over to the Iranian authorities Australia is participating in the abuses.
Iranian asylum seekers in the Baxter detention centre have told refugee supporters that many of them had been tricked into seeing Iranian Charge d'Affairs Eshagh al Habib on May 15. None of them wanted to meet the government official, as they were afraid he would use his visit to gain information about them from the immigration department and use it to persecute their relatives in Iran.
During the visit, Habib made it clear to them that the immigration department had passed on detailed information about all Iranians held in detention in Australia. He indicated that Iran would now accept Iranian detainees who were deported from Australia. Detainees were told that they would have no problems if they volunteered to go back to Iran, but if they were deported they would not be given a passport in the future.
Detention centre management claimed that detainees had requested in writing to see Habib, but refused to show detainess any of the alleged requests.
From Green Left Weekly, May 21, 2003.
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