Posted on 04/07/2002 6:05:55 AM PDT by stiga bey
THIRTY-TWO asylum seekers who escaped from the Woomera Detention Centre last week had been on a hunger strike in the Adelaide police watchhouse, their lawyer said. One of the asylum seekers was so depressed he was suicidal and had pulled the skin off his lips and feet, lawyer Claire O'Connor said.
However, the Immigration Department said the hunger strike had ended on Friday night.
Ms O'Connor, who visited the police watchhouse, said the asylum seekers had been kept in police cells since they were recaptured. Until Friday, they had gone without fresh clothing and toothbrushes and had not been permitted to exercise.
Ms O'Connor said she unsuccessfully appeared in the Supreme Court on Friday to apply to have the asylum seekers returned to the Woomera Detention Centre.
She feared the asylum seekers would be sent to the Port Hedland Detention Centre instead of returning to Woomera, where they had friends and family.
An Immigration Department spokesman would not comment on when the asylum seekers would leave the watchhouse or to what detention centre they would be sent.
Oh yeah, that's JUST the kind of guy the Aussies want to be granted asylum in their society. Or is my sarcasm culturally insensitive?
Sounds like he has more than a hunger problem. Tough s#it. Go home!
That would be for the best. With internees now collaborating with protesters in the timing of mass breakouts, Woomera's security is under a cloud. These escapees should be sent to Port Hedland, or (better) immediately deported.
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