Asylum seeker advocates in Brisbane will hold a vigil on Thursday for Faysal Ishak Ahmed, the Sudanese refugee who died at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on Christmas Eve. He had suffered injuries from a fall and seizure while in detention on Manus Island.
The vigil will be held outside Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s Queensland electorate office in the northern Brisbane suburb of Strathpine.
Other detainees on Manus Island have asserted that Ahmed, who was only 27 when he died on Saturday, suffered seizures, heart problems and headaches in the weeks before he collapsed, but did not receive medical treatment for his complaints.
Mark Gillespie, a member of the Refugee Action Collective and one of the refugee advocates organising tomorrow’s vigil, asked in a statement that Ahmed’s death not be overlooked due to the Christmas holidays.
“Faysal was not just a number or a statistic,” he said. “He was someone’s son, brother and friend. He was 27 years old and had his whole life before him.”
More information on the event here.
Source: Sky News.
Image: Refugee Action Collective.