Candle Light Vigil for Asylum Seeker
Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 8 Sep 2014
17:00 - 18:00
Location
Northbourne Avenue
Categories No Categories
Canberra refugee advocates plan to hold a public, peak-hour, candle-light vigil for the life of a 24 year-old Iranian asylum seeker, Hamid Kehazaei on Monday afternoon.
Mr Kehazaei, who was urgently medivacced from Manus Island to Brisbane has been declared to be ‘brain dead’.
By the time Hamid was taken to Brisbane, he was suffering septicaemia, from an infection spreading from a cut foot, and went directly into intensive care. On Tuesday the Immigration Department and the hospital told the family that Hamid was confirmed as ‘brain dead’.
Dr John Minns of the Canberra Refugee Action Committee said that “this is a case of shocking neglect. Hamid had unsuccessfully sought medical attention for days on Manus Island for the pain and the infection. He was told that he would have to wait.”
Dr Minns claimed that, at times, raw sewerage flowed in areas of the camp that asylum seekers had to walk through. “The conditions on Manus Island would not be tolerated in even the worst prison in Australia. Infection and illness is widespread. These people are being treated like animals. How many deaths and how much misery has to be inflicted before the government closes this horrific place once and for all?”
The vigil will take place at the busy intersection of Northbourne Ave and Barry Drive at 5pm on Monday.
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For more information and comment, please contact:
Dr John Minns
0407 483 952
