Refugee hunger strike at Melbourne detention centre ends after 17 days with detainees in hospital
A hunger strike by refugees held at a Melbourne immigration detention centre has been called off after some of the protesters became dangerously ill and were admitted to hospital.
The group of mostly Iranian refugees, who are protesting against conditions in the centre and want to be released into the community, said they had “reluctantly stopped” their hunger strike on Saturday – some 17 days after it began.
Most of the refugees were transferred from Nauru or Manus Island to Australia on medical grounds and have been approved for resettlement in the US or Canada.
They now say they should be released into the community, as almost 100 other medevac refugees have been, while awaiting resettlement.
“Why can’t we receive the same support to be free as the other 100 medevac refugees,” 34-year-old Iranian refugee Vali asked.
“Living for eight years as if in lockdown, my body and mind have been incapacitated.”
Vali’s case is indicative of the experiences of many of the group. He has been approved for US resettlement but was told by the Australian Border Force that he must remain in immigration detention or return to Nauru until IHMS approves his ability to travel to the US.
Vali ended up in detention in Melbourne after he underwent an operation on Nauru in 2016, which resulted in a pin being inserted in the wrong place to ostensibly mend his broken bone. In 2019, he was moved to Australia under the medevac laws.
It took more than four years for him to be given an operation to remove the wrongly inserted pins, a procedure that finally took place in Melbourne in May.
Vali’s psychologist expressed concerns over the increasing decline in his mental health if he remains in detention.
In a letter sent to the minister for home affairs, Karen Andrews, and the minister for immigration, Alex Hawke, the refugees said they did “not expect or want to live in Australia, but we do want our freedom”.
The protesters said the two men who had been admitted to hospital were still refusing food and were seriously ill.
Dr Barri Phatarfod, the founder of Doctors for Refugees, said there were many examples among offshore detainees of botched surgeries, delayed transfers for abdominal organ ruptures and head injuries, but there had been no improvement in care over eight years.
“These men on hunger strikes are in their 30s and should be in the prime of their lives. But they’ve lost eight years locked up, unable to work, unable to start a family or to rebuild their lives and be productive members of the community,” Dr Phatarfod said.
“There’s no end in sight, so they’ve slowly lost hope and we’re spending billions to keep them in this state in perpetuity. There is absolutely no-one served by continuing to keep these individuals in detention – not them, not the taxpayer, not our security.”
Dr Claire Loughnan, lecturer in criminology at the University of Melbourne, has emphasised the despair the refugees feel as a result of indefinite detention.
“Governments need to act now, before lives are lost under Australia’s border protection regime. We don’t want more tragic deaths in immigration detention,” Loughnan said.
Hamed, a 38-year-old Iranian refugee, is another one of the protesters.
In 2019, he was diagnosed with a respiratory condition and medevaced to Kangaroo Point hotel in Brisbane and then transferred to immigration detention in Melbourne.
Medical records seen by the Guardian show that since mid-2019, his counsellor has urgently raised concerns that the decline in his mental health will continue as long as he remains in detention.
The counsellor strongly suggests Hamed needs to live in “a less restrictive environment”.
Hamed says he lost 14kg during his hunger strike.
The refugees also raised health concerns about a fellow detainee who has developed a dangerously low white blood cell count as a result of his protest.
He was initially evacuated to Australia because he needed treatment for gastritis, nerve damage and mental illness. However, he has received no acute treatment for these conditions and now weighs only 51kg.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said refugees and asylum seekers temporarily in Australia were managed in detention or the community according to their individual circumstances, but would not comment on specific cases.
“Transitory persons are encouraged to finalise their medical treatment so they can resettle in the United States or other third country, return to Nauru or PNG, or return home voluntarily,” the spokesperson said.