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Loghman Sawari: "I am not a criminal, I am a refugee, do you understand what that is?" Sawari treated in hospital while waiting to face PNG court

9/2/2017

6 Comments

 

PNG Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato has acknowledged Sawari is a vulnerable person, noting his "mental health issues", but said he was concerned about the alleged breach of PNG law

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Loghman Sawari, the Iranian refugee who fled PNG for Fiji, outside a Port Moresby court with his lawyer Loani Henao
An Iranian refugee who fled Australia's offshore detention regime in Papua New Guinea is being treated in hospital while he awaits court.

Loghman Sawari was deported from Fiji on February 3, after spending 10 days in that country. His lawyer had said he intended to seek asylum in Fiji, but Sawari was arrested while on his way to a meeting with immigration officials, taken to the airport and sent back to PNG.

PNG police charged him with giving false information in his application for a PNG passport. The 20-year-old was being kept at a Port Moresby police station but is now in hospital. He was brought to court in Port Moresby to apply for bail, but there was a problem with the lodgement of his bail application and the matter was deferred. Sawari was visibly upset and shaking while he waited to apply for bail.

"I am not a criminal, I am a refugee, do you understand what that is?" he said.

He showed journalists apparent self-harm injuries on his arm and said he had developed serious mental health problems from his detention and deportation.

UNHCR 'profoundly concerned' for SawariThe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed concern about the treatment of Sawari, saying the agency was "profoundly concerned for his welfare". "UNHCR has long called for refugees and asylum-seekers currently in Papua New Guinea to be moved to humane conditions outside of the country, equally, UNHCR has urged that no refugees or asylum-seekers should be returned there," the UNHCR said in a statement.

"We urge the Government of Papua New Guinea to ensure that Mr Sawari is treated in accordance with international human rights law and standards."

Fiji's Government has defended its decision to deport Sawari, saying he did not comply with international law because he did not immediately apply for asylum upon arrival. It also noted that he had been recognised as a refugee by Papua New Guinea and was a lawful resident there. Sawari was one of the first refugees to leave Australia's detention centre on Manus Island, to take up a job in the country's second-biggest city, Lae. He left his job after a dispute with co-workers and was sleeping rough on the streets before going back to Manus Island.

PNG Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato has acknowledged Sawari is a vulnerable person, noting his "mental health issues", but said he was concerned about the alleged breach of PNG law. Source: ABC News, Australia, 9/2/2017

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Did UNHCR give Aiyaz Khaiyum the green light to ambush, detain, and deport Sawari to PNG? He was not allowed to even take his basic possessions in life - two small bags - on the plane to PNG

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3 February 2017

UNHCR is gravely concerned by the forced return of an Iranian refugee from Fiji to Papua New Guinea today.

The UN Refugee Agency had sought assurances from the Government of Fiji this week that he would have access to Fiji’s national asylum procedures, given his stated intention to seek asylum.

All asylum-seekers are entitled to have their claims for refugee status considered fairly and in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which Fiji is signatory.

UNHCR deeply regrets that interventions to prevent the refugee’s forced return were not successful, and is profoundly concerned for his welfare. Further information is being sought from the Governments of both Fiji and Papua New Guinea at this time.

UNHCR has long called for refugees and asylum-seekers currently in Papua New Guinea to be moved to humane conditions outside of the country. Equally, UNHCR has urged that no refugees or asylum-seekers should be returned there.

We urge the Government of Papua New Guinea to ensure that the refugee is treated in accordance with international human rights law and standards.


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STATEMENT FROM THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AIYAZ SAYED KHAIYUM
2/3/2017

Loghman Sawari was deported from Fiji to Papua New Guinea today after entering Fiji on a Papua New Guinean passport.

He is claiming to be a refugee but did not present himself as a refugee seeking asylum to immigration officials on arrival in Fiji. Nor, after ten days, did he lodge an application for asylum, personally or through his lawyer.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has advised Fiji that Sawari is not recognised as a refugee under the UNHCR mandate. It has further advised that he is a refugee recognised by Papua New Guinea under its national procedures. So Fiji has merely returned Sawari to his rightful place of residence.

Sawari eluded the authorities during his ten days in Fiji while posting photographs of himself on social media at various locations.

Under international law, anyone who is seeking political asylum is required to lodge an application without delay. In the case of Sawari, this did not happen. And his lawyer - who has been publicly advocating his position through the media - failed to facilitate a prompt application as required under international conventions pertaining to applications for refugee status.

The authorities in Fiji have been informed by their Papua New Guinean counterparts that Sawari’s Papua New Guinea passport was obtained by fraudulent means.

On this basis, Sawari was also in breach of Fijian law which states that “a person who knowingly misleads or attempts to mislead any immigration officer in relation to any matter material to the performance or exercise by any immigration officer of any duty, function, power or discretion...commits an offence.”

The Government notes that Sawari is claiming that he feared for his life. This begs the question as to why for ten days he failed to file an application for asylum. Despite several attempts by the Immigration Department to engage with Sawari, these attempts were ignored.

Fiji remains fully committed to the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, but we cannot tolerate a situation in which a person who is not an asylum seeker and who has already been granted refugee status in another country flagrantly violates the law.

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6 Comments
Welcome Home
9/2/2017 04:58:57 pm

Of course there is no understanding nor even attempt to understand what a refugee is. Refugees have been created through forcible deportation or threats of personal harm for over a decade now. See how the Parisians and the French President, Francois Hollander, react to the alleged and most serious sodomy-rape attack by French Police upon a hapless civilian? They are out in force on the streets and Francois Hollande has visited the hospital bed of the alleged victim of this horrific crime of violence. That is the expected response to an aggravated rape of this severity and barbarity! Why does it have a familiar feel for so many of us? Because we have lived too close to it and the horror resonates with us still. This is why empathy and compassion are rare attributes: more valuable than a priceless jewel. Our silence and inaction invite contempt and ultimately accountability.

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Rajend Naidu
14/2/2017 10:55:39 pm

Young people protesting against POLICE BRUTALITY on the streets of France following black youth worker Theo getting " sodomised with a baton" by a police officer claim " the police treat them with contempt"(SBS news 12/2). The French president visited Theo in hospital where he underwent surgery for the injuries he sustained in the brutal baton rape and assured him the perpetrators would face the full force of the law.
In Fiji there have been many cases of police brutality since the military coup of 2006 ( and that's not surprising because Fiji had become a Police State after the coup). One regime arselicker wrote a letter to editor to say we should not jump to conclusions because it was not clear what constituted police brutality! Like hell it isn't ! It's crystal clear to every victim and their families and friends and to conscientious citizens what police brutality is. It's only regime lackeys who put a spin on this to justify police/military bad behaviour.
They have no conscience. They have no sense of shame.

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Rajend Naidu
12/2/2017 07:08:49 am

Editor,
The court in Kenya has ruled the Kenyan government's decision to close the Dadaab Refugee Camp - the " largest refugee camp on earth " - to be unlawful. With the closure the refugees could be returned to the same dangers from which they fled from Aljazeera 8/2).
Michelle Jordan of Amnesty International said of the court decision, " it's an affirmation of the rule of law in Kenya".
It's a good thing for the 340,000 refugees in the Dadaab refugee camp that that is so.
In some other places the fate of the refugee is determined without bothering with the due process of law.
Does anyone need an example of this?
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Rajend Naidu
14/2/2017 03:09:25 am

Editor,
America's Own Internally Displaced Environmental Refugees.
Over 200,000 people living below the Oroville Dam in California have been forced to flee at an hours notice because of the possible threat of the dam collapse ( PBS Newhour 13/2 ).
Through force of circumstance people can suddenly feel the need to escape from where they live to seek refuge in a place of safety.
It's ironical that the new US president Donald Trump wants to stop refugees from coming to America. Now there are 200,000 Americans who have overnight become environmental refugees within America's border.
Expert reports had warned that the structural integrity of the dam was in doubt and that the dam built in 1968 did not meet modern standards but cost considerations apparently prevented remedial action to be undertaken.
Perhaps if America did not spend the kind of money it spends on its military juggernaut, it would have the money and resources it needs to fix such needs that have a direct bearing on the lives of its people ...
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Chiku
14/2/2017 04:26:18 am

My heart goes out to each of the 200,000 plus American men, women and children who have had to abandon their homes and flee to safety because of the impending disaster of a dam collapse .
Most refugees also flee from disasters that threaten their lives and well- being, usually disasters of a political kind characterised by arbitrary persecutions and violence and human rights abuses.
No reason why one shouldn't empathise with them, unless one is a heartless bastard.

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I am Sorry...!
14/2/2017 11:00:09 pm

How would I see this world if I was in Sawari’s shoes? Would my faith in GOD or in Humanity be shattered – for good?

And now as me, what are we and what have we done and what have we become, I ask? Do I belong to the flock of GOD’s own good children or have my parents have sinned me astray...? This is wrong and will always be wrong.

Forgive me GOD I did not do anything for Sawari.

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