[The following letter was sent to Australian human rights groups on January 2 by an Afghan asylum seeker imprisoned in Topside camp on Nauru.]
Since December 24, the detainees of State House detention [one of the two detention camps on Nauru] have been protesting against the Australian government. Their demand is to be released from detention. There are almost 160 detainees in State House detention. Most of them have been denied refugee status.
The IOM [International Organisation for Migration] has moved about 50 detainees to Topside detention. The rest of them are surrounded by Nauruan police and Australian police (Australian Protective Service). They have stopped the water supply and the food supply to detention. Some detainees and some APS [officers] got injured in the protest. Except for security guards, no one can go inside detention. I don't have much information about State House detention. It was the information I have got from those who have been moved to Topside detention on December 29.
Topside detention: We are still suffering from water shortages. We have salty water for just two hours in a day. Some days we don't have salty water. There are almost 500 detainees in Topside detention at the moment. If the number of detainees reduces, the IOM reduces the water too. The health care is getting worse, day by day.
The Australian police (APS) come inside detention in large numbers. The number of security guards is decreasing. The IOM has warned us to make friendly relations with APS from now. The IOM has warned those detainees who had cancelled [their] last flight to go on the next flight this month, otherwise they will lose the money given by the Australian government. They don't think of our problems in Afghanistan. The IOM works behalf of the Australian government and fulfils what the Australian government says.
I appeal to the Australian humanitarian people and humanitarian organisations to put pressure on the government to not force us to return and to not push us into the fire of Afghanistan again. Have mercy on innocent people (refugees). We are waiting at your door and requesting you to grant us shelter in your country. Women, children, old and young, are looking at your door, when you will open it?
[A documentary about the conditions for asylum seekers locked in refugee prisons on Nauru was made by Melbourne activist Kate Durham and BBC journalist Sarah MacDonald, when they visited Nauru undercover in June. It has been screened in Britain, but not yet in Australia. The ABC indicated that it was "not interested".
[To obtain a copy of the film, send an empty video cassette box in a pre-stamped, self-addressed package to Julian Burnside, 205 William St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000. No further payment is required. For queries, email <jb@julianburnside.com>.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, January 22, 2003.
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