12/16/2003: 
Nauru
Australia's right to detain asylum seekers faces court challenge
from Agence France Presse
Australia's right to detain unsuccessful asylum seekers on the Pacific island of Nauru will be tested in a legal challenge starting here this week, a group of refugee advocates said Tuesday. A writ lodged in the Victorian state Supreme Court by two barristers seeks an injunction to stop the Australian government detaining the asylum seekers and includes a claim for unspecified damages. The writ, served on behalf of Melbourne solicitor Eric Vadarlis, a prominent refugee advocate, lists the names of 325 asylum seekers it says fled their countries of origin in 2001 and 2002 and alleges they are being falsely imprisoned. It says the asylum seekers had been held in Nauru against their will since being intercepted in or near Australian territorial waters and forced aboard an Australian vessel.
In other news, several refugees on hunger strike have been rehydrated by IV when the pass out in the heat.
More
Copyright 2003 Agence France PresseAgence France Presse
December 16, 2003 Tuesday 12:56 AM Eastern Time
SECTION: International News
LENGTH: 534 words
HEADLINE: Australia's right to detain asylum seekers faces court challenge
DATELINE: MELBOURNE, Australia, Dec 16
BODY:
Australia's right to detain unsuccessful asylum seekers on the Pacific island
of Nauru will be tested in a legal challenge starting here this week, a group of
refugee advocates said Tuesday.
A writ lodged in the Victorian state Supreme Court by two barristers seeks an
injunction to stop the Australian government detaining the asylum seekers and
includes a claim for unspecified damages.
The writ, served on behalf of Melbourne solicitor Eric Vadarlis, a prominent
refugee advocate, lists the names of 325 asylum seekers it says fled their
countries of origin in 2001 and 2002 and alleges they are being falsely
imprisoned.
It says the asylum seekers had been held in Nauru against their will since
being intercepted in or near Australian territorial waters and forced aboard an
Australian vessel.
However, the government says almost all of the asylum seekers have had their
claims for temporary protection visas rejected and are now categorised as
illegal immigrants.
A hearing on Wednesday is expected to set a trial date.
Vadarlis said the asylum seekers were being detained "in appalling conditions
" with inadequate water supplies, power for only one hour a day and defective
air conditioning.
"There is not enough water to go round, people are seriously ill (and) not
enough hygiene is being provided to them," he told reporters.
The case was launched as 24 of the Nauru detainees continued a hunger strike
for the sixth day Tuesday in protest against their prolonged detention.
Some claimed to be facing a death sentence if they are sent home to
Afghanistan.
Four of the 24 have stitched their lips together and nine were taken to
hospital in Nauru to be treated for dehydration, immigration officials say.
Kate Durham, a spokeswoman for a refugee advocacy group calling itself Spare
Rooms for Refugees, said unless the Australian government intervened to grant
refugee status to the 24 -- 23 Afghans and one Pakistani -- they would die.
Durham, wife of one of the barristers involved in the Supreme Court action,
said several of the men had converted to Christianity which spelled certain
death if they returned to their homeland.
"One of them has a father who is a mullah," she said. "He would be expected
to kill his own son.
"They are very serious about what they are doing, they face certain death
either way."
An immigration department spokesman said six detainees remained in hospital
but were in "remarkably good contition", while 24 were still on hunger strike,
four with lip stitches.
Durham claimed the asylum seekers were being abused by being given
intravenous fluids against their wishes when they collapsed.
She also criticised the government's pleas for the men, all of whom have been
denied refugee status, to return to their homeland.
The Nauru detainees, who include 93 children, are being held under Canberra's
hardline policy of refusing incoming boatpeople permission to land on Australian
territory and diverting them to Pacific island holding camps.
The government has refused to reconsider their pleas and says the protests do
not change the fact that their applications for asylum failed.
jt/ppy
Australia-immigrants
LOAD-DATE: December 16, 2003
