An Amnesty International investigation has found that Australian government officials *may* have engaged in people smuggling, when they *allegedly* paid the crew of an asylum seeker boat to turn it around and head back to Indonesia.
Back in May, the Australian navy intercepted an asylum seeker boat en route from Indonesia to New Zealand, and allegedly paid the crew US $32,000 in US $100 bills to turn the boat around and go back to the island of Rote.
“All the available evidence points to Australian officials having committed a transnational crime by, in effect, directing a people-smuggling operation, paying a boat crew and then instructing them on exactly what to do and where to land in Indonesia,” said Anna Shea, Refugee Researcher at Amnesty International.
“People smuggling is a crime usually associated with private individuals, not governments – but here we have strong evidence that Australian officials are not just involved, but directing operations.”
“When it comes to its treatment of those seeking asylum, Australia is becoming a lawless state.”
Amnesty International interviewed all 62 asylum seekers and 6 crew members on board the ship while compiling their report, as well as Indonesian police.
However, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has not only rejected the report, but slammed it as making Australia look bad.
“To suggest otherwise (that this report is true), as Amnesty has done, is to cast a slur on the men and women of the Australia Border Force and Australian Defence Force,” a spokesperson for his office said, continuing our country’s tradition of vilifying any organisation or person who dares to critique our asylum seeker and on-water policies.
FFS.
Picture: Getty Images News.
