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ALLIANCE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

MEDIA RELEASE

14 December 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CALL FOR INDEPENDENT MEDICAL REVIEW OF BAXTER CRISIS

The Alliance of Health Professionals for Asylum Seekers has convened an independent medical team including psychiatrists and general practitioners to review the condition of hunger-strikers in Baxter detention centre.

Dr Louise Newman, Convenor of the Alliance said that “this latest outbreak of despair and self-harm is entirely predictable. Long-term detention damages psychological health and the prospect of indefinite detention, results in hopelessness and mental deterioration.

The Alliance described Baxter as “a defacto psychiatric hospital, without adequate treatment or monitoring.”

“The fact that some individuals have exhausted avenues of legal appeal is no justification for inhumane treatment and sub-standard medical care” said Dr Newman.

“All people, regardless of visa status, have a right to adequate health care”.

The Alliance medical team has sought approval to conduct a review of Baxter detainees and recommend treatment as required.



Contact Dr Louise Newman
0418 453 447


Iranians' cases should be fully re-assessed with mercy and honesty
Project SafeCom Inc.
Media Release
Tuesday December 14 2004 13:00am WST
For Immediate Release
No Embargoes

• Two Iranians hospitalised

With the news that yesterday evening two of the Iranian who were amongst the six with lips stitched, have been hospitalised in the Port Augusta hospital, and the fact that the senior, internationally acclaimed psychiatrist Dr Louise Newman now calls the Baxter detention centre a "de-facto psychiatric hospital", it is clear that the situation is entering a stage 'beyond desperation'. In a separate matter, a lawyer acting for a third man involved in the protest, has asked a court in Adelaide to demand from the Commonwealth, that the man be independently undergo a psychiatric assessment, and, if need be, be released immediately to undergo such an assessment.

• Within this context, Project SafeCom issues a call for

1) an independent negotiator, not linked to the government to speak with the hunger strikers,
2) an independent medical and psychiatric assessment of all Iranians involved in the hunger strike, and
3) a re-consideration of all asylum cases of all Iranians in the light of current and changed political and country information, including a setting aside of their first claims when they entered Australia

At the time the Iranians sought to claim asylum in Australia, one of the main opposition and resistance groups in Iran, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK or MKO) was listed as a terrorist organisation. Some, or likely many of the Iranians, may have hidden their affiliation to this organisation or to other organisations. They may even have lied about their affiliations, or about the fact that they were members of the Indigenous Arab minority in the southwestern province of Khuzestan (al-Ahwaz or Arabistan). Since earlier this year, the US government has rescinded MEK's listing as a terrorist organisation.

• Project SafeCom maintains that:

1. All Iranians currently in detention have a well-founded fear of persecution if they're returned to Iran (regardless of whether the Australian government recognises that or not) - and there are mountain-loads of corroborating evidence for this (see the web links above).

2. Consequently, none of the Iranians should be returned to Iran.

3. All of the cases of the Iranians in detention should be re-opened as a matter of the greatest urgency.

More information: Jack H Smit, Project SafeCom, phone 0417 090 130