Senate Inquiry Hears Nauru Guards Allegedly Spied On Senator Sarah Hanson-Young


A former employee of Wilson Security, the contractor responsible for security at Australia’s detention centre on Nauru, alleged guards at the facility conducted surveillance of Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young during her official visit to the island in December 2013, a Senate Inquiry has heard.

According to The Guardian, the submission to the Senate Inquiry by a former subcontractor of Wilson Security claims that staff “spied” on the Senator not only while visiting the processing centre, but also at her hotel room on the island:

“When Senator Sarah Hanson-Young visited Nauru, Wilson Security organised a team from ERT [emergency response team] to spy on her while she was on Nauru. This included following her around the island while she was outside of the OPCs [offshore processing centres] and setting up an observation post to watch her room at the Menen hotel.”

According to The Guardian, Hanson-Young was given the codename “Raven”, a label she’s already taken to on Twitter.

The submission to the Senate Inquiry also alleges guards at Nauru planned to use “unreasonable force” on detainees, ahead of widely-publicised unrest that occurred in 2013. Overall, the submission strongly recommended for Nauru to be “shut down, the remaining asylum seekers being processed onshore, and all the refugees that were released into the Naurun community be brought to Australia.” 

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sarah Hanson-Young responded to the claims in a statement, asking why she had become a target on the island, and calling for an investigation:
“What exactly were they looking for? Who I was meeting and who I was speaking with and for what purpose? It is only appropriate that a full explanation of what occurred is given. What information was gathered and kept, who has access to the information, and importantly who on Nauru and the Government knew?”

Via The Guardian, SMH.
Lead image by Tang Chhin Sothy via Getty.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV