His Name Was Reza Barati: One year on and lives still at risk
Friday 20th @ 7pm
Perth Cultural Centre, 47 James Street Mall, Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia
Speakout for justice!
Reza Barati was a young 23 year old Iranian-Kurdish asylum seeker who was violently murdered at the Manus Island detention centre, on the 17th February 2014.
One year on and both the Australian and PNG governments have failed to prosecute anyone for this violent crime.
Regardless, the past year has seen an escalation of violence directed toward asylum seekers on Manus Island.
• Numerous reports of intimidation, torture and solitary confinement
• Reported intimidation and abuse of witnesses to Reza Barati's murder
• Medical neglect leading to the death of Hamid Kehazaei
• Coerced deportations
• Excessive and unnecessary force against peaceful demonstrators and hunger strikers
Many of those on Manus have been held without charge or trial for up to 18 months. After one of the largest mass hunger strikes in recent world history, more than 1,000 asylum seekers in the Australian run and financed detention centre on Manus Island continue to resist and appeal for international intervention. Unprecedented violence was used to try break the hunger strike, compounds were raided to force an end to the peaceful demonstrations.In the midst of this, images, videos and phone calls flooded us from Manus, showing the brutality that is Australia's asylum seeker policy.
The murder of Reza Barati is not an isolated incident, it is but one in a long line of abuses and violations. Australia's asylum seeker policy uses refugees as political scapegoats for the government's shortcomings rather than seeking real world solutions to an issue that is neither about sovereignty or border protection but about real humanitarian support for those who seek it.
The campaign grows, global protests in solidarity with the hunger strikers have taken place; from Perth to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, from Boston to Berlin to Brussels and Cambridge.
We will not let the crimes of our government go unnoticed, we will not let the murder of Reza Barati go unpunished. Stand with us as we continue to campaign for an end to indefinite mandatory detention, and end to off-shore processing and to bring all asylum seekers to the mainland to be processed in the community.
#closemanus
#freetherefugees
#nocrimetoseekasylum
To get involved in the refugee rights campaign, contact us:
RRAN: https://www.facebook.com/rran.org
Freo RRAN: https://www.facebook.com/RRANFremantle
Unionists for Refugees: https://www.facebook.com/unionistsforrefugeeswa
Students for Refugees: https://www.facebook.com/StudentsForRefugeesWA