Asylum seekers treated 'worse than animals': former refugee

By Brendan Gullifer
Updated November 2 2012 - 3:15pm, first published December 17 2010 - 2:29pm
Former refuge and human rights activist  Ali Bakhtiavandi.
Former refuge and human rights activist Ali Bakhtiavandi.

The story of former refugee Ali Bakhtiavandi, now living in Ballarat, gives fresh insight into Australia's ongoing asylum seeker dilemma.The 44-year-old Iranian petro-chemical worker fled his country in 2000 in fear of his life. He still has family there, including his mother, so is necessarily circumspect about his previous human rights activities. He describes Iran as a beautiful and rich country, with an oppressive political regime.But claims that any softening of Australia's refugee policy will attract more asylum seekers is blown out of the water by his story.First, he was lied to by the Indonesian people smuggler to whom he paid US$5000.He joined 36 others, including children and pregnant women, on a leaky boat for a 72-hour crossing without food, sufficient water or toilets.The smuggler told him he would be welcomed in Australia by the United Nations.He would be under UN care for 45 days, then released into the community, the smuggler said.Australia's actual immigration policy was irrelevant, and such rosy untruths by unscrupulous entrepreneurs are beyond Australian Government influence.Second, treatment of asylum seekers in this country is appalling. By contracting out detention centres to be staffed by private companies, we lose all control of maintaining decent standards of human care.If Mr Bakhtiavandi is to be believed ? and respected human rights lawyer Julian Burnside was one of many supporters to take up his case ? he was subjected to humiliation, bashings and mental cruelty by guards on an ongoing basis.One immigration department official told him he could be behind bars for 10 years and still not get a visa. On another occasion, he was moved from one detention centre to another, and friends were told he had been deported back to Iran.He said while at Baxter an inmate's pet cat received better medical care than humans, who were given only over-the-counter pain relievers for any and all ailments."When refugees come to Australia, they are treated worse than animals."Mr Bakhtiavandi is quietly spoken. He chooses his words carefully. Hunger strikes and the stress of recent years makes him look much older than his age.In Ballarat he works for a herbicide company, where he is well regarded and respected.When The Courier caught up with him yesterday in Melbourne, he hadn't slept for 30 hours, helping others to prepare for demonstrations in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and refugees.He says Julia Gillard is no different to Pauline Hanson, Tony Abbott no different to John Howard. "These people are not terrorists. They are not dangerous. I am fighting this situation because I don't want to see more people hurt."

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