Asylum seeker filmed weeping tells her story

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/asylum-seeker-filmed-weeping-tells-her-story

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The identity of the woman whose image was used by the Department of Immigration as a warning of the new hardline order on Australia’s borders after Labor's announcement of the “PNG solution” can be revealed by Guardian Australia.

Nazanin, a 30-year-old Iranian, was filmed and photographed weeping by the Department of Immigration when she was told the news she had no chance of being settled in Australia.

The images, tagged with the line “If you come by boat, you won’t be settled in Australia” then travelled around the world – disseminated officially by the department as a warning of the brutal new order on Australia’s borders.

The broad publication sparked outrage, with the Greens immigration spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, saying at the time: “It is shameful that this government is exploiting people’s private despair for cheap political gain.”

The Department of Immigration defended the images as “entirely appropriate”.

But until now the identity of the woman whose grief has come to symbolise the hardline nature of Australia’s immigration regime has remained a mystery.

Nazanin arrived in Australia with her husband, Soroush. She claims she is fleeing persecution from the Iranian intelligence services and she contacted Guardian Australia to tell her story.

Speaking on the phone from Christmas Island, Nazanin, like many thousands of asylum seekers held indefinitely in detention, has horrors to tell.

She was on the first asylum seeker boat to arrive in Australia after Kevin Rudd announced mandatory offshore processing last August. The boat arrived just hours after the announcement, and had left Indonesia when settlement in Australia was still possible.

Her story starts from the moment she got off the boat and, on the day Guardian Australia releases the letter signed by 15 doctors on Christmas Island that forensically documents shocking allegations of medical malpractice in immigration detention, continues with the revelation of devastating flaws in the medical provision she and Soroush were offered in detention.

“Nobody asked for our permission,” Nazanin said when asked if she knew she was being photographed during that moment.

She says she was moved to a hall where all those on her boat were told they would not be allowed to remain in Australia. And then the cameras rolled.

“Three days after that,” she says, “I just saw my photos in the internet. But nobody [at the time] talk to me about my photos and videos and all that things.”

For Nazanin their publication has exacerbated the suffering. She says they revealed her identity to those she was trying to flee in Iran.

“Unfortunately I saw my picture in every site and again unfortunately in my country every media is showing my picture, and my family, and my relatives and my friends all of them saw my picture and it was really bad for me because of our political issues.

“The intelligence service in our country went to our houses and threatened our family,” she said.

For Soroush, Nazanin says, the news of his family being threatened was a hard blow.

Soroush has epilepsy but, according to Nazanin, had not suffered a seizure for three years before arriving in Australia. After a month in detention and after hearing of the threats, his seizures began again.

“After one of his seizures he fell down and cracked his head open and his double vision started,” Nazanin said.

According to an earlier, detailed correspondence with Guardian Australia, Nazanin said this double vision persisted to the present day.

“He can't walk alone cause he has no balance and he sees everything double,” she wrote.

Her earlier correspondence says Soroush was transferred to Darwin for treatment and she was left on Christmas Island. For 20 days they were separated. After testing, doctors were unable to diagnose his condition and he was transferred back to detention in Darwin.

Nazanin was transferred to be with him. She says that a few weeks later Soroush’s medication – of Epilim and strong painkillers – was stopped without appointment. Despite repeated requests to see a doctor, Soroush was denied treatment.

“Those were terrible days,” Nazanin wrote, “We couldn't leave our room even for lunch and dinner. All the time Soroush wrapped his head with some cloths and he moaned from pain. We had to be inspected just for panadol which didn't work.

“Whenever we asked Serco to help us they refused. Once without any medical request they asked us to visit a mental health nurse. She told us that we should be so thankful cause our food and clothes are free. She said that most of refugees in the city are starving. Her consultation was more frustrating.

“All the time we were crying. Several times Soroush fell down in front of Serco but they didn't help us.”

Nazanin said they were eventually transferred back to Christmas Island. Soroush remained undiagnosed, his seizures getting worse.

In her latest correspondence with Guardian Australia – last week – Nazanin wrote: “Soroush had another seizure today. It was really bad. He bumped his head again to the table. His nose and hand was bleeding. He is dying in front of my eyes. He has not been like this never. He is suffering all the time.”

The letter signed by 15 doctors who practised on Christmas Island documents in detail the “numerous unsafe practices and gross departures from generally accepted medical standards which have posed significant risk to patients and caused considerable harm” in detention.

Asylum advocates have subsequently lodged a complaint to the Department of Immigration on Nazanin and Soroush’s behalf. Ben Pynt, the director of human rights advocacy at Humanitarian Research Partners, said the department had until Friday to respond to their complaint, which they may then seek to escalate to the commonwealth ombudsman.

A spokeswoman for the immigration minister said in relation to the use of the footage of Nazanin: “This was a practice employed by the previous government that has been discontinued.

“While not commenting on individual cases, the department acts on the basis of medical advice from its health services provider to ensure all detainees are receiving appropriate medical treatment.”

International Health and Medical Services said they did not comment on individual clients’ medical treatment.

A spokesman for Serco said: “The health and wellbeing of the people in our care is our first priority. We strive to create and maintain an environment conducive to the health and welfare of the people in our care, where their needs are identified and responded to. Our procedures require that injuries to any person at the facilities we operate are reported and recorded, and that everything is done to make sure proper medical care is provided.”

Nazanin also expressed fears about being transferred to Nauru. The transfers were unannounced, she said. Detainees were expected to gather up their possessions in a plastic bag with just minutes’ notice before they were moved. “It’s like a funeral,” she said.

“We chose [to come to] Australia because they knew about human rights,” she said. “We didn’t know that they really don’t care about humans.”

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