Refugee Situation Intensifies in Australia, as Kurdish Victim Found Dead

Fazel Chegani, an Iranian Kurd in his early thirties was found dead on Sunday under a cliff off of Christmas Island, located in the Indian Ocean 2600 km North West of Perth. Chegani had reportedly escaped the Immigration Detention Facility two days earlier.

The young man’s death reportedly caused a riot inside the highly secured center where media is not allowed. The Immigration Department announced on Wednesday that order was restored, but the inmates said that the building was torched in the riot.

 Detainees also reported to ABC Australia that the Kurdish man’s death was “suspicious” because they heard gunshots and as a result, many suspect foul-play is involved at the hands of the Serco officers.  Refugee advocate Pamela Curr announced that Chegeni was brutally tortured in Iran and the Australian Government was aware of that prior to his death.

 “Despite the fact that he was so brutally tortured, they kept him in detention for years,” Curr said in an interview with ABC Australia.

Tara Fatehi, founder of Adelaid Kurdish Youth Society told K24, “Iranian Kurdistan, unlike Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, does not have the attention of the front page news or hundreds of international journalists watching. People don’t know of the horrors that Kurds in Iran have to endure.”

“They suffer in silence and to know that Fazel had to endure that suffering and to never be given a sanctuary makes me feel as though I have failed my people,” Fatehi added.

Chegeni is the second Kurdish man  to have died in an Australian refugee detention center in the last two years.

23-year-old, Reza Barati, also an Iranian Kurd, died of multiple head injuries in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) camp in 2014. His death during a riot at an Australian detention center for asylum seekers exposed conditions at the Manus Island facility, which a former interpreter has described as worse than a war zone.

In total, more than thirty people have reportedly died in Australian immigration detention centres in the past five years.

“There's no doubt that the Australian government is in hot waters for its treatment of refugees. The rough and slow processing of the refugees in these detention centres are highly criticized by the UN and other Human Rights organizations. Most Australians are ashamed of their government.” Roza Germian an Australian-based Kurdish journalist told K24.

"There are very little information about what goes on inside the detention centres, due to the high levels of secrecy. Whistle-blowers could face up to 2 years in jail for releasing any information about what's going on inside these facilities,” Germian added.
While activists are demanding transparency from the government, Australian Federal Police agencies are investigating the cause of Chegeni’s death.

“This story once again hits very close to home. We know the journey that Fazel had to take to get to this point because we too have had to take this journey. To know that the same country that embraced us with peace and safety is now the reason so many other of our refugees are dying in their care is absolutely heartbreaking,” Tara Fethi told me.