The Patient
He sat there in the shadows just inside the entrance to the prison block,
Thin and black, he was hard to make out in the dark.
He sat there patiently waiting.
He was being transported ashore for medical treatment.
All the other refugees had been transferred over onto a naval boat and he
remained alone.
His knees were touching the way a schoolboy’s might waiting outside a principal’s office for punishment,
He sat there in the dark all alone.
Most of the people he had met in the two days he had spent onboard the Ocean Protector had been wearing guns and other weapons like tasers and pepper spray.
He must have been very afraid.
When he came out between the two customs officers he did not reach their
shoulders,
He went into the boat with the officers and the doctor.
And the bridge gave them a sweeping lee as we lowered away and the fast boat backed off the ship’s side and swung its bow into the low choppy swell and headed for the ancient red brow of Darwin’s shoreline.
— Ciaran MacLennan
Omid
He has been flown to Princess Alexandra hospital in Brisbane from Nauru.
There is a precedent for transferring the sick to hospital from off-shore. Another man with kidney failure was flown to the PA hospital earlier.
WHY was OMID NOT TRANSFERRED earlier?
There is no precedent in Australia for blatantly watching a man die for political reasons.
Margaret Thatcher watched Bobby Sands Die in 1981.
“Article 14” by Tony Mockeridge
The British treated the Irish with the same venom as many in Australia including our political leaders direct to asylum seekers.
Don’t let them get away with it.
RING AND FAX and email the following NOW please .
Most of the politicians listed in the table have indicated a level of support for asylum seekers, seem to be predisposed to policies which protect the rights of asylum seekers ( with a couple of obvious exceptions)
CONTACT DETAILS POLITICIANS.doc
[Editor’s Note: Much of this info was supplied on 26 November 2012 by Pamela Curr – ASRC Melbourne (I have made a couple of updates from info supplied by RAC) — Ian Curr 3 Dec 2012] For more details see
References
Omid (Persian: امید, meaning “Hope”)
Organising meeting
We need concerned people to get involved in the refugee rights campaign more than ever. If you care, come along to the organising meeting.
Our next organising meeting is next Sunday.
When: 2 pm, Sunday 18th November. Where: Freedom House, 69 Thomas St, West End.
We usually hold organising meetings mid-week evenings at the TLC Building. But we occasionally hold weekend meetings so those who can’t come on weekdays can participate.
Meeting agenda: The meeting will be mainly concerned with planning upcoming campaign events. The main event on our minds at present is Human Rights Day in early December. We are currently planning a protest outside the BITA (Pinkenba detention centre).
Getting there: Street parking. West End (199) bus from the city. Get out cnr Boundary & Vulture Sts.
All are welcome, including new people.
Further info: Paul. Ph. 3392 3843, paul@rac-qld.org .
RAC website: http://www.rac-qld.org .
The Refugee Action Collective QLD is organising a protest outside the Brisbane detention centre in Pinkenba against the policy of offshore processing which has punished Omid and hundreds of other innocent refugees so severely. It is taking place at 1PM on Saturday, December 8. Please consider attending if you are able. For more information contact either Duncan on 0417035252 or Tim on 0411829319.
TONY EASTLEY: Asylum seeker advocates say Sri Lankan men are being sent home despite their declarations that they risk persecution or death if they’re sent back.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre says the men are being returned to Sri Lanka before their claims are properly assessed or processed.
The centre says that many who’ve been returned have been arrested and imprisoned.
An injunction application to stop a further fifty-six Sri Lankan men from being involuntarily removed is now before a High Court hearing in Sydney.
Rachel Carbonell reports [ABC AM program on RN]
See more at http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3646696.htm