Afghan refugee family fights to stay

April 23, 2003
Issue 

BY SARAH STEPHEN

Mohib and Fatima Sarwari and their four children were arrested by police at their home in Launceston, Tasmania, on December 5 and taken to the Baxter detention centre. Their 'crime"? They failed to correctly notify the immigration department of a change of address, and had therefore not received a letter from the department asking them to answer an accusation that they were not Afghans but Pakistanis.

Susan Archer, who helped the family settle in Launceston, had verbally notified the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) in Hobart of the family's change of address. The fact that this information was not in writing, and had not been forwarded to the department's Sydney office, provided the basis for the family's temporary visa to be cancelled.

While the Sarwaris are not the only Afghan refugees on temporary protection visas (TPVs) to be treated like dangerous criminals and whisked away from their homes without warning, so far their's is the only case that has received publicity. This is chiefly due to the strong community campaign in their support that has been mounted in Launceston.

Launceston supporter of the Sarwari family Helen Tait told Green Left Weekly: "We were so incensed that someone was taken overnight by six police. What sort of demons do they think these people are? What type of wild animal would you feel you had to put behind four layers of razor wire? We decided we were not going to let this happen, not in Tasmania."

Refugee lawyer and advocate Marion Le told GLW that it was only by chance that the Sarwaris lodged a request for a review of the decision to cancel their visas and hold them in Baxter. They were not told about their right to a review, and had only two days to lodge it. By chance, there was a lawyer working in Baxter at the time, assisting other refugees with their cases, and she helped them to lodge an appeal.

In a further attempt to discredit the Sarwari family, DIMIA spread rumours that Mohib was the brother of Ali Baktiyari, the father of two Afghan boys who escaped from the Woomera detention centre and sought asylum in the British consulate in Melbourne. DIMIA maintains its allegation that Baktiyari is from Pakistan and perhaps hoped to further discredit Mohib Sarwari's claim by alleging a link with Baktiyari. Immigration minister Philip Ruddock has refused to confirm that the rumour originated from his office.

DIMIA rejected the Sarwari family's application for bridging visas, which would have allowed them to be released from detention while their appeal against the cancellation of their TPVs was being heard. DIMIA argued that there was a risk that the family's supporters in Launceston might break the law to hide them and prevent them from being deported if there was a negative decision, an accusation that caused outrage within the Launceston community and further increased support for the Sarwaris.

An appeal against DIMIA's decision was lodged with the Migration Review Tribunal on January 3. The family scored a partial victory when the MRT decided on January 14 to overturn the department's decision, releasing Fatima and her four children to return to Launceston, while Mohib remained in Baxter.

Determined to provide the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) with proof that the Sarwaris were from Afghanistan, the family's Launceston supporters raised $15,000 to pay for Le and an interpreter to go to Afghanistan, find Mohib and Fatima's relatives, and bring back proof.

Le returned from a two-week trip on March 23 with documentation she felt confident would prove beyond doubt that the Sarwaris were Hazaras from Afghanistan. In a March 26 article in the Launceston Examiner, Alison Andrews wrote that Le "brought letters and photographs of relatives whom they thought were dead. 'Fatima's sister broke down when she realised what we were telling her'", Le told the Examiner.

"The first [satellite] phone call to Fatima, in Launceston, was just sobbing. We had to ring back and try again when they could both talk. Bakt Bebe [Fatima's sister] was crying and saying: 'Is that you my sister?... I am very happy to know you are alive'."

"We left Kabul at first light, and just before dark we came to a place about three quarters of an hour from Mohib's village", Le told the Examiner. "There was no road. We just used the maps that Mohib and another guide had drawn." Le found the head of Mohib's village, who identified Mohib from a photograph.

Le brought back a statutory declaration written by the village elder and signed by the mayor of Ghazni province and the Afghan foreign ministry, confirming that Fatima and Mohib Sarwari had been born and lived in the village.

On March 31, Le had what she described as a "fruitful" three-and-a-half hour meeting with Ruddock and top immigration officials, where she passed on information she had gathered on her trip.

The MRT argued that it could not make a decision on the Sarwaris' case simply on the basis of the documents provided by Le, so Le, her translator and Mohib Sarwari, had to appear in person before a three-member panel on April 11. Fatima sent a statement from Launceston. The verdict was unanimous, finding that Mohib Sarwari should be released, but DIMIA set bond at a ridiculous level of $30,000.

The Sarwaris' supporters had until April 14 to raise the $30,000 bond, which they did with some big donations, as well as tapping into their own savings.

Mohib was greeted at the Launceston airport on April 15 by dozens of supporters, including a few local politicians and the Launceston mayor. The family is now struggling on bridging visas which prohibit work or government income support, but the supporters are campaigning to raise funds to help them survive.

The RRT is due to hold a hearing on the Mohib Sarwari's case before the end of April, at which it will consider his application for a permanent protection visa. It is still possible that, if rejected by the RRT, the family will face deportation.

Incredibly, according to the April 17 Hobart Mercury, "The immigration department says the ball is in Mohib Sarwari's court to prove he is an Afghani refugee". In fact, the ball should be in DIMIA's court to apologise unreservedly to the Sarwari family for the unnecessary trauma and suffering they have been put through.

For further information on the Launceston community campaign, email Helen Tait at <htait@bigpond.net.au> or phone Terry on 0409 414 562. Make a donation to the Sarwari Support Fund account at the Commonwealth Bank BSB 067 600 Account number 28005964, via City Mission (03) 6331 6999. You can also join an email discussion group at <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TFRLton>.

From Green Left Weekly, April 23, 2003.
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