A
GROUP of asylum-seekers released from detention in
Nauru today November 2, tasted freedom for the first
time in four years.
The 25 men, from countries including Iraq and
Afghanistan, were flown to Melbourne after concerns
were raised about their mental health on the island.
Only two people remain in the Nauru centre, which
was set up in 2001 to process illegal boat arrivals
under the Federal Government's controversial
"Pacific solution".
An Immigration Department official said yesterday
that while the centre would be mothballed, it would
still cost $150,000 a month to operate.
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Visas granted: these refugees have the right to stay
in Australia.
Picture: John Hart - Herald sun |
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The group from Nauru -- 13 men who have been given
refugee status and 12 given other forms of
humanitarian protection -- spent their first day of
freedom at a Preston hotel.
They will stay at the hotel at public expense until
they are resettled.
Iraqi asylum-seeker Salam Abdullah, 35, thanked
Prime Minister John Howard, immigration officials
and refugee advocates for his release.
"I'm very happy here," Mr Abdullah said.
"I would like to be a good person for the Australian
Government and a good person for the Australian
people."
Mr Abdullah, a Kurd, said he was aboard a people
smuggler's boat from Indonesia that was intercepted
by the Royal Australian Navy in late 2001.
The Pacific solution was devised after the
Government refused to allow the Tampa, a Norwegian
freighter, to bring rescued asylum-seekers to shore
in August 2001.
Mr Abdullah would not criticise the Government or
complain about his treatment on Nauru.
"I don't like to talk about the past. I would like
to talk about the future," he said.
Mr Abdullah's brother, Kamil, said he would not go
back to Iraq, despite the overthrow of arrested
former president Saddam Hussein.
"There's a civil war and there's no security there,"
Kamil said.
Refugee advocate and legal representative of the
group Marion Le said that all the men suffered from
depression.
Asked to comment on Mr Howard's view that offshore
detention had been an outstanding success, Ms Le
said: "For the people who have been on Nauru it's
been an unmitigated disaster.
"It should never happen again."
Immigration Department state director John Williams
declined to apologise to the group for their four
years in detention.
www.heraldsun.news.com.au
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