Lankan refugee on hunger strike
June 10, 2011 09:21 am
The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network says a Sri Lankan Tamil who has been granted refugee status is protesting because he is still being held in custody.
Spokesman Carl O’Connor says the man started the strike because he has been held for about 20 months while Australia’s intelligence body ASIO completes security checks.
The length of time taken by ASIO to sign-off on security clearances has already provoked unrest this year among asylum seekers on the Australian mainland and at Christmas Island.
An Immigration Department spokesman says it does not comment on individual cases.
Earlier this year two men were reported to have attempted suicide at the Darwin facility.
About 500 men women and children are being held in the Northern Territory capital awaiting immigration processing.
In February, five asylum seekers were hurt and 11 arrested after violence at the Darwin Airport Lodge, where immigration detainees are also being held.
Last September, a group of Afghan detainees walked out of the Darwin Immigration Detention Centre after they discovered the power to two electric fences had been turned off.
They were captured soon after and returned to the centre. (ABCnews)
