Iranian’s death preventable: coroner

Aussie minister visits E. Timor to repair ties

SYDNEY, July 30, (Agencies): The death of an asylum-seeker held at a remote Australia-run Pacific camp from an infection was “preventable” and Canberra should improve healthcare services for detainees, a coroner ruled Monday.

Under Canberra’s harsh immigration policy, asylum-seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat are sent to detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru for processing.

They are blocked from entering Australia even if they gain refugee status.

The government contracts a medical provider to deliver health services at the camps, but doctors have previously criticised the facilities as inadequate.

The Iranian detainee, Hamid Khazaei, died aged 24 in September 2014, two weeks after he contracted a leg infection and was transferred from PNG’s Manus Island to the capital Port Moresby and then a Brisbane hospital.

Queensland state coroner Terry Ryan said his death “was the result of the compounding effects of multiple errors”, including delays in treating or moving him.

“Mr Khazaei’s death was preventable,” Ryan wrote in his findings.

“If Mr Khazaei’s clinical deterioration was recognised and responded to in a timely way at the (Manus) clinic, and he was evacuated to Australia within 24 hours of developing severe sepsis, he would have survived.”

Ryan said similar deaths could be avoided if asylum-seekers were relocated to less remote regions where there were better healthcare services, such as Australia or New Zealand.

US on a visit to Paraguay and Belize next month officials said Monday, a move likely to anger China, which is deeply suspicious of ties between Washington and the selfruled island.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of its own territory — to be reunified by force if necessary — and has stepped up military and

He acknowledged this was “highly unlikely” given Canberra’s policies, and called on the government to provide them with higher standards of healthcare.

He recommended regular audits of the clinics, for critical units to be set up near camps and for the Port Moresby hospital’s intensive care facilities to be upgraded to Australian standards.

Australia’s Home Affairs department said was reviewing the findings.

Human Rights Watch claimed medical care on Manus had got “worse not better” since Khazaei died while the Doctors for Refugees advocacy group called the findings an “indictment of Australia’s substandard and dangerous health care provisions” for detainees.

The Manus camp was shut late last year after a PNG court ruled it was unconstitutional, with the then 600 detainees sent to transition centres. More than 240 men, women and children remain on Nauru, according to recent Australian immigration detention figures.

Canberra has sought to send those recognised as refugees to third countries such as the United States, and more than 100 have been resettled there, according to reports.

Also: CANBERRA, Australia:

Australia’s foreign minister was visiting East Timor on Monday to repair bilateral ties after a bitter dispute over energy revenue and spying allegations.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she is in the national capital Dili to meet newly elected leaders. She is the first Australian

diplomatic pressure since independenceleaning Tsai came to power in 2016.

Tsai will transit in Los Angeles and Houston during the trip set for Aug 12-20, officials said, although when asked if Tsai would meet US officials, vice-foreign minister Jose Liu said details were “still pending confirmation.” minister to visit the near neighbor in five years.

Australia, a wealthy nation of 25 million people, ended an acrimonious dispute with the poor, half-island nation of 1.5 million people in March with the signing of a bilateral treaty that shares oil and gas revenue from the Timor Sea which separates them.

East Timor had challenged the validity of a revenue-sharing agreement signed in 2006 because it alleged Australia had bugged government offices in Dili in 2004 to gain an unfair advantage in negotiations.

“The signing of our historic maritime boundary treaty has opened a new chapter in relations between Australia and Timor-Leste,” Bishop told Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday, referring to East Timor by its preferred name.

“It was a matter of ongoing tension, it was a concern for us in terms of our relationship with Timor-Leste and I’m pleased that we were able to commit to a process that led to a fair and balanced outcome and now we can get on with supporting Timor-Leste in achieving its economic potential,” Bishop added. East Timor dropped its case against Australia in the United Nation’s highest court last year as an act of goodwill ahead of their agreement on the new treaty that gives most of the Timor Sea revenue to Dili.

Australia last month confirmed that it had charged a former Australian spy, who cannot be named, and his lawyer Bernard Collaery with conspiring to reveal secret information in relation to the espionage allegation.

Typically, Taiwan does not provide detailed itineraries when officials travel abroad, fearing China’s ability to disrupt their visits.

During a visit to three Pacific allies last year, Tsai transitted through Hawaii and the US territory of Guam, prompting angry protests from Beijing. (AFP)