Peter Dutton has been called many things – mostly, a potato. His role as Immigration Minister means the buck stops with him on asylum seeker mistreatment, operational crises at Nauru and Manus Island, and the shroud of unnecessary secrecy that clouds all “on water matters”. Name calling might be childish, but my god it’s satisfying.
Here’s a new one to add to your moniker repertoire: Peter Dutton, feral dick.
That pic was taken by Griffith University student Priya De, who was one of about 20 people outside Dutton’s offices in Brisbane yesterday protesting the imminent deportation of 60-year-old Iraqi refugee ‘Saeed‘ (not his real name).
Saeed and his brother came to Australia in 2012, fleeing persecution in Iraq on religious grounds (they come from a religious minority, and supporters say the local head of their ethnic group was murdered in a suicide attack two years ago).
“The same experiences in Iraq led Saeed and his brother to escape together,” RAC spokesperson Ian Rintoul told the Daily Telegraph. “The fact he is being deported on a technicality when his brother has been recognised as a refugee is yet another example of Dutton’s contempt for life and safety.”
Saeed was transferred to Villawood Detention Centre on March 23, and had spent the previous three weeks on hunger strike in light of his looming deportation. Protests have been going on around the country.
His solicitor, Allison Battison, released a statement last week upon the move to say her client was a “family man” who wanted “to live out his days in Australia”, and was overwhelmed and grateful for the support shown him by the Australian community.
“He only asks that the government hear his full story before making a decision to send him back to a country in which he, as a member of a persecuted minority group, faces violence,” she said.
Rintoul confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that despite fears, Saeed remains in the country and has a number of medical appointments today.
Anyway. Dope sign good, asylum seeker mistreatment bad.
