Yahoo News Afghan asylum seeker sues for false imprisonment in 'cockroach-infested' Australian facility
An Afghan asylum seeker is suing the federal government for false imprisonment, claiming he was held in a violence-ridden detention centre that was “infested with cockroaches” for five days despite a tribunal finding he had the right to stay in Australia.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the federal court, is the latest development in a case that has seen a judge find that the immigration minister, Alan Tudge, engaged in “criminal” conduct for keeping the asylum seeker locked up.
In a statement of claim filed with the court, the asylum seeker, a 34-year-old Afghan citizen of Hazara ethnicity referred to as PDWL, says he developed muscle spasms and was denied medical care during his unlawful detention at the Yongah Hill immigration detention centre, west of Perth.
The alleged unlawful detention made his injury worse because it mirrored his previous arbitrary detention by the Taliban, PDWL said in his statement of claim.
“This case speaks directly to the point that the government cannot simply ignore or not act on decisions by courts or tribunals that it does not agree with, especially in cases where a person’s liberty and freedom are at stake,” PDWL’s lawyer, Mark Northam, said.
On 11 March 2020, the administrative appeals tribunal granted PDWL a visa following a hearing held by videolink. However, the government did not release him from detention until 17 March, following an order from the federal court upholding the visa.
PDWL accused guards at Yongah Hill, who are employed by contractor Serco, of threatening him when he asked to be released following the tribunal’s ruling. One officer told PDWL “not to mess” with him and demanded he return to his room, PDWL alleged in his statement of claim.
PDWL claims the commonwealth should have told the officers he had a valid visa and ordered them to immediately free him. He said the detention centre was surrounded by an electric fence and a “prison-like environment” with “poor hygiene and unsanitary conditions”.
The “eating areas were infested with cockroaches and had a malodorous smell”, he said.
PDWL said food at the centre was “offensive in smell and taste, unpalatable and innutritious in that there was sparse availability of fresh fruit and vegetables”, and he was “detained in an environment in which he was involuntarily exposed to frequent violence”.
“Detainees at the Yongah Hill immigration detention centre witness near-daily fights amongst the others detained, which often result in injuries requiring medical attention, and frequent episodes of attempted suicide and self-harm,” he alleged in the statement of claim.
PDWL alleges the commonwealth knew his detention was illegal from 11 March. He says claims by a government lawyer on that day that it was “in the process” of releasing him from detention were untrue and there was no such process.
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This is because he was immediately released after the federal court ruled in his favour on 17 March “without implementing any ‘process’”, he said.
Last month, federal court judge Geoffrey Flick said Tudge had acted “unlawfully” and that his conduct in the case, which included refusing to explain why PDWL was not immediately released, was “disgraceful”.
“His actions have unlawfully deprived a person of his liberty,” Flick said.
“His conduct exposes him to both civil and potentially criminal sanctions, not limited to a proceeding for contempt. In the absence of explanation, the minister has engaged in conduct which can only be described as criminal.”
Tudge’s office has been contacted for comment.
