An Iraqi refugee, separated from his wife and children for more than three years, held in Port Hedland then Villawood detention centre, gave up hope of a life in Australia and agreed to return to Syria on February 28. A month before, he wrote a three-page appeal to a third country to intervene and offer a future to refugees detained in Australia.
He wrote: “We cannot return to our homes, and the Australian government will never release us. Some of us will be deported by force, but the rest of us will remain behind razor wire for another year, and then another.
“We came here looking for freedom, safety and justice. Instead we found nothing but traps, built of steel bars, bad laws and dishonest politics.
“Inside these cages, children have grown into adults. Young men's hair has turned white. Babies have been born, taken their first steps, spoken their first words, seen their first sights. Most of us, separated from our families, have become like ghosts to our mothers, our wives, our children.”
Writing from Damascus, Syria, on March 20, he told refugee supporters in Australia: “The situation here is more bad than I expected. Today I have seen the first refugee from Iraq in the street where I live, they were very tired and hungry and I took them to my house and gave them what I could...
“The Syrian authorities give my family up to 1st of April or I face deportation to Iraq. Please pray for me and my family and I hope to see you one day in a better world.”
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 2, 2003.
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