Young Iranian asylum seeker died in Australia for medical neglect

Here we go again with another young man's life which was unnecessarily lost due to Australia's cruel policy against refugees and asylum seekers. When he left his country, he was looking for freedom and peace somewhere far away, little he knew he would end up in a notorious detention center which did cost his precious life. Right or left, Australian politicians spent/spending sleepless nights to bar refugees from entering their 'country' which their ancestors looted from Aborigines. Rest in Peace young man! A victim of racist policy.
Twenty four years old Iranian asylum seeker Hamid has been declared brain dead in a Brisbane hospital following his family's decision to switch off his life support. He had been declared ‘brain dead’ after contracting septicaemia from an infection contracted while in offshore detention on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, a refugee advocacy group says. Hamid Kehazaei's family decided to donate his organs

Australia Told its detained Asylum-seekers to Resttele Themselves

Reports from Manus Island indicate a major protest and breakout has taken place on Manus Island late this afternoon. The most recent reports indicate that the riot squad has been mobilized and that the perimeter fence has been breached.

Protests have been building all day, but escalated after a meeting (around 2pm Manus time) was held to answer asylum seekers’ questions about resettlement.

Shockingly, the asylum seekers were told that they “will not be resettled in PNG” and if they wanted to go somewhere else, they will need to arrange that themselves.

There had been protests throughout the day, but around 4pm Manus Island time, events escalated and the G4S riot squad went into Oscar compound.

A couple of hours later, fences were knocked down and the whole detention center was locked down as the protests spread to all the compounds. There were reports of a fire being set in one compound and tents have been destroyed.

It seems the perimeter fence of one compound, perhaps Oscar, has now been breached and a major protest is underway.

There are reports of asylum seekers being injured by G4S guards. Some asylum seekers have been taken to the police station.

There have been daily protests on Manus Island involving hundreds of asylum seekers since 25 January as frustrations have increased over delays in processing and uncertainty about their future.

Today’s announcement that there would be no resettlement in PNG confirms earlier reports that resettlement was never a part of the PNG deal and the PNG government has never had plans to resettle refugees.

Source: RefugeeActionSydney 

Australia is allegedly behind Visa hike to visit its Nauru Concentration Camp

Nauru to increase visa cost for journalists from $200 to $8,000

Bridie Jabour and Daniel Hurst of the Guardian reported yesterday that the new fee, which is not refundable if an application is rejected, will come into force in the next few days. 

An aerial photograph of Nauru. Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP

Journalists will be charged $8,000 to apply for a visa, even if it is rejected, to visit the island of Nauru where the Australian government is holding hundreds of asylum seekers in detention.

The Global Mail is reporting the new fee, up on the $200 it cost for a visa in 2013, will come into effect in the next few days after the Nauruan parliament voted to approve the increase.

A spokeswoman for the Nauru government said the move was solely for “revenue purposes” and was yet to come into effect.

The website’s photographer, Mike Bowers, applied for a visa to visit the island in November and on Tuesday was reportedly sent an email from the director of Nauru’s government information office, Joanna Olsson.

“Sorry for the late response but yes we are granting media visas. The fee is $8,000 per visa, single entry valid for 3 months. The visa fee is not refundable if the application is not successful,” the email said.

Bowers initially thought the quoted fee was a mistake but it was confirmed to both him and another staff member at the Global Mail to be $8,000.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said he had "no idea" whether the Australian government had any role in pushing for the visa fee increase, but argued the move may be intended to deter journalists from visiting Nauru.

"There's more than one way to bar the scrutiny of the press," he said. "It could be a revenue raising measure or it could be a measure aimed at discouraging Australian journalists from reporting to Australia how Australian taxpayer dollars are being used." Asked whether the Australian government requested the change, the Nauran spokeswoman said: "I haven't been told anything to suggest that."

What's Got Australia to HIDE?

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young criticized the Nauruan government's decision, saying it was designed to make it difficult for the media to access Nauru and to get information back to Australia.

"This is of course part of Tony Abbott's strategy of shutting down public information about how Australian taxpayer money is being spent on the cruel and harsh detention camps on Nauru," she told reporters in Adelaide.

Offshore processing of asylum seekers on Nauru was re-introduced by the Gillard Labor government in 2012.

In July, an accommodation building at a processing center on the island was destroyed when asylum seekers began rioting, which Salvation Army workers put down to the “degrading” conditions they were being held in.

The practice of offshore processing and the conditions asylum seekers are held in have been criticised by the United Nations refugee agency and in December it was announced the Australian government was ending the Salvation Army’s contract to provide humanitarian services on Nauru.

Nauruan government officials have been contacted for comment.

Infographics about Global Ethiopians' Demonstration against Saudi's Brutality

The protest started in the Saudi-Arabia on November 9/2013, a hell on earth for many migrant workers, by Ethiopians who resisted Saudi's police brutality who inflicted an imaginable pain. This sparked a global protest by Ethiopians around the globe to urge Saudi authorities to stop such gross human right abuses, killings and rape against helpless and defenseless migrant workers with the pretext of regularizing "illegal" migrants workers in that country. Ethiopians from Edmonton, Canada to Soul, South Korea; from Melbourne, Australia to Washington D.C., USA; from Addis Abeba to London, UK went to the streets of their respective cities to express their outrage. So far, roughly thirty thousand Ethiopians and origin of Ethiopians have participated, the majority, obviously in North America. November 18/2013 was the largest crowd recorded, nearly ten thousands Ethiopians in various countries around the world said LOUD & CLEAR to stop Saudi-Arabia its barbaric practices against Ethiopians. Ironically, hundreds of our compatriots in Ethiopia, who tried to show their solidarity with fellow suffering citizens in Saudi-Arabia, were beaten and then arrested by the ruling TPLF. However, Ethiopians who live abroad vowed to go and make noise at Saudi Embassies everywhere in the world until that country stops its crimes.      

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