Last night (December 24), detainees inside Manus Island detention centre seized control over two compounds following the death earlier that day of a Sudanese refugee in a Brisbane hospital, who had sustained injuries on Manus Island.
ABC News spoke to Senior Sergeant Thomas Lelepo, who was one of the staff stationed at Manus Island during the riot. “There was a situation there… over the death of a resident,” he said. A spokesperson from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has since confirmed “the disturbance has now been resolved. There is minor property damage and no reported injuries”.
More information comes from a Facebook post by Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who is currently being held at Manus Island:
“We just kicked out the Wilson security from Delta and Oscar detentions. This message is for the government,” wrote Boochani.
Currently, the official word from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection is that the death of 27-year-old Sudanese refugee Faysal Ishak Ahmed was due to injuries sustained after a seizure at Manus Island. However, Ahmed’s fellow detainees, as well as the Refugee Action Coalition, claim that Ahmed had been suffering from medical problems for months, and had requested assistance numerous times before the seizure. In another Facebook post, Boochani wrote the following:
Many times Faysal collapsed and all of us here knew that he was seriously sick for more than 6 months. More than 60 people wrote a letter to IHMS [International Health and Medical Services] and explained to them how Faysal is sick and has constant headache and heart problem but they did not care. Every day Faysal went to medical asking for help. They did not help him.
We’ll update this story as it develops.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Facebook / Behrouz Boochani
