BY SARAH STEPHEN
PERTH — Ali Abu Al Chabab, a 22-year-old Palestinian refugee from Lebanon, will fly back to Beirut on April 4 after his three-year fight for refugee status in Australia was unsuccessful. Chabab's partner Ana Kailis will fly to Lebanon with him. Although Kailis is an Australian citizen, this doesn't assist Chabab's case for residency in Australia.
On March 15 and 16, Chabab spent 48 hours in detention, experiencing first-hand the chilling reality of the government's discriminatory anti-refugee policies.
“I am a third generation Palestinian refugee born in Lebanon”, Chabab told 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly. “I am recognised by the United Nations as a stateless person and carry the official UN definition of refugee, but as a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon I don't have the right to nationality and any other basic civil rights. There are 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, living in overcrowded camps. There are no unions to protect Palestinian workers. We have no right to own land or to vote. The UN provides education to year 10, then after that we have to pay. I can't go back to my original country Palestine because of the Israeli occupation.”
When Chabab came to Australia he had to prove that he had at least US$25,000 to survive in Australia and proof of acceptance from a university. He also had to pass a medical test and an English-language test.
Within six weeks of his arrival in Sydney on June 3, 1998, Chabab applied to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) for refugee status. DIMA rejected Chabab's application on the basis that he could live in Lebanon. He then appealed to the Refugee Review Tribunal, but the appeal was rejected after 12 months.
Finally, Chabab appealed to immigration minister Philip Ruddock. While his case was being assessed, Chabab was granted a three-month bridging visa. The visa conditions prevented him from accessing Medicare, social security, English-language classes and government housing and prevented him from working or studying.
In February 2000 Chabab joined Kailis in Perth. When he visited DIMA's Perth office to update his visa, there was no interpreter present at the interview. Chabab said that he didn't fully understand the content of the visa application form he was signing. “What I understood from the officer was that I didn't need to go back to DIMA until the minister had made a decision, that the visa was open and there would be no more visas on my passport. I gave them my address, phone and mobile number.
“At the DIMA interview, there was a major misunderstanding because of language, and I found out only days ago that I should have been contacting DIMA monthly. For almost 12 months DIMA did not contact me, either to clarify the conditions of the visa or to advise me of any progress on my appeal.”
During this time, several people sent letters to Ruddock supporting Chabab's case and received acknowledgements from his department. Chabab assumed this meant that Ruddock had still not assessed his case.
Chabab advised DIMA when he and Kailis married in July. The department's letter of reply stated: “It is currently taking some time to finalise requests such as yours, but please be assured that you will be contacted by the department when examination of your case has been completed.”
When he rang DIMA on March 14 enquire about the progress of his case, Chabab was told that his visa had expired. The next day he was interrogated for seven hours. DIMA officers told him that the minister refused his appeal in May 2000. However, Chabab had never received any notification of this from the department. At the end of the interview he was taken into detention.
Chabab said of his experience: “I feel that Australia is similar to
Lebanon. In both countries I have no rights. It has been a very mentally
exhausting and depressing experience to find that even in the heart of
'democracyÂ’, people can be treated worse than animals, stripped of their
human dignity, and sent back to misery and fear of death.”