BFF-14 Iranian refugee dies in apparent suicide in Australian offshore camp

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AUSTRALIA-IRAN-REFUGEE-IMMIGRATION

Iranian refugee dies in apparent suicide in Australian offshore camp

SYDNEY, June 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An Iranian asylum-seeker was found dead
Friday on the remote island of Nauru in what refugee advocates say was an
apparent suicide, some five years after Australia sent him to the tiny
Pacific nation.

Canberra has sent asylum-seekers who try to enter the country by boat to
camps on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. They are barred from
resettling in Australia.

The harsh policy is designed to deter people embarking on treacherous sea
journeys, but the United Nations and other rights groups have criticised the
camps’ conditions and long detention periods.

Australia’s home affairs department said it was aware of the death on Nauru
but referred further enquiries to authorities in that country.

The Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul said the 26-year-old died from
an apparent suicide, with the exact means to be confirmed.

“News of the man’s death has shattered the asylum seekers and refugees on
Nauru,” he said.

“He was a well known, well liked, athletic young man who did everything he
could for his brother and mother.”

The man’s family said he suffered from depression and had made pleas to
Canberra to help him.

Rintoul said the Australian government had continually ignored calls for
support, with all refugees offshore suffering from varying mental health
issues.

“There have been so many warnings, but the toll mounts day by day; the
neglect continues,” he said. “So many cases of medical neglect.”

This is the fifth death on Nauru since Australia’s offshore detention
regime began in July 2013, Rintoul said.

A Rohingya refugee from Myanmar died last month on Manus Island after
jumping from a bus — the seventh asylum-seeker death there since 2013.

Canberra has tried to resettle those recognised as refugees to third
countries such as the US, and more than a hundred have been moved there,
according to refugee advocates.

But the Refugee Action Coalition says 1,600 people remain on Nauru and
Manus.

BSS/AFP/RY/12:30 hrs