Award-winning author, journalist and poet, Behrouz Boochani tonight arrived in New Zealand and is out of Australia’s brutal offshore detention regime.
Dr Graham Thom, Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Adviser said: We are delighted to see Behrouz able to travel outside of Papua New Guinea after years trapped in Australia’s offshore detention regime. We will keep campaigning for all those trapped offshore by Australia. I’m proud that the Amnesty international movement played a small part in his release today”.
Despite the billions of dollars spent by the Australian Government to flout international law and stifle the voices of refugees it warehoused in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, Boochani rose to international attention. The world heard about Australia’s mistreatment of refugees and people seeking asylum in Manus Island and more recently Port Moresby, through his hundreds of articles, interviews, a film and an award-winning book, No Friend but the Mountain.
“Behrouz arriving in New Zealand illustrates the bizarre hypocrisy of the Australian Government’s decision to block vulnerable refugees trapped for seven years from getting to freedom. Amnesty has worked tirelessly with partners to help refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea to get to the USA, Canada, Switzerland and other places in Europe,” Thom said.
“We must redouble our efforts to ensure each of those still marooned by Australia in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru who wishes to be free, is allowed to go to safety. Australia could resolve this crisis in one plane, and Behrouz free today, illustrates how easy it could be.”
Amnesty International has long evidenced and sought justice for those innocent people trapped by Australia’s illegal policy of offshore processing as cruel and inhumane treatment
