REPORTER: Fouad Hady
In the holy city of Karbala this is the last resting place
of Ahmad Al Akabi. His widow and sister have come to
mourn him.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH, WIFE
(Translation): Answer me, Ahmad. It’s me, Ahmad. I want to see you…
I want to find the truth
behind this pain. Why a man would leave this woman's love and three young
children he has left behind. Why he took his own life.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): I wish I could have seen him, just for a moment. That’s all I
wanted – if only I could see him.
My search begins 13,000
kilometres from the cemetery; here at the Villawood Detention
Centre in Sydney, the scene of recent protest by asylum seekers, Al Akabi committed suicide here last November. Twice he had
been rejected as a refugee - here are his friends from Karbala, also boat people. They
were accepted as refugees and now they live in Melbourne. Saed
Mosuab left Villawood 13
days before Al Akabi.
SAED MOSUAB (Translation): He
was the most stoic among us - he had a brave heart, while I was scared. He was
just normal – joking, poking fun at us when we crossed by boat from Malaysia to Indonesia.
The men call the
Detention Centre - another Iraqi who came on the same boat is still there. He
rushed it to the bathroom where Al Akabi committed
suicide.
MAN ON MOBILE (Translation): So imagine hanging from a thin
cord around your neck, no one could cut the cord so we broke it by burning it
with a lighter. When we got him down he was finished.
I was sitting near his leg, his leg went cold
immediately. I told them he was gone – his body was cold.
This is Al Akabi's notebook. He
wanted to stay in Australia and he wanted to learn English. That is
really very sad. I fly to Iraq. I want to meet at Al Akabi's wife and family. The new Iraqi is supposed to be
democratic and safer than before, but many people still live in fear. I drive south
to Karbala - Shia fight for control of the city. Al Akabi said he was persecuted here. This is his wife and
three children.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): He sent me a picture by email, that he had taken at the camp –
he wrote on it “I love you. Look how I’ve changed, I have aged 20 years.” And it is true, he had changed a lot,
I was not expecting it. I expected life to be better, that he would feel
easier, he’d be compensated for the deprivation he’d endured.
Al Akabi
told the Australian immigration authorities that in Baghdad he had received death threats
from Sunni fundamentalists. The family were told to ‘move or they would be
killed.’ After fleeing toKarbala he was ‘pressured to join the
Supreme Islamic Iraq Council. They demanded that he
transport their people to a protest in Samarra, but he refused.’ He
claimed he was abducted by the Badr Brigade, a Shia
militia, and tortured for two days. ‘The claimant showed some cigarette burns
to his upper arm and some marks on his wrist from hand-cuffs, which, he
claimed, were part of his torture.’
MARION LE, MIGRATION
AGENT: Well clearly the
case officer believed him. There was no credibility
issues there - never question the fact that he had been kidnapped and held for
ransom.
Marion Le is an immigration agent with
many Iraqi clients. She was awarded the Order of Australiafor service
to Refugees. Dateline has obtained the Al Akabi
immigration deposition. I showed it to her.
MARION LE: I did not question the fact that he
had gone from one place to another, and fed from Baghdad toKarbala.
There was no issue regarding the credibility of who he was or what had happened
to him.
Al Akabi's
family paid the militia a ransom of US $10,000. They released him, saying that
they would kill him unless he demonstrated that he was a good Muslim. Fearing
for his life after being released, Al Akabi met this
friend here at this cafe and asked to hide at his small farm. He agreed, but
said Al Akabi's situation was so dangerous that he
did not want him to stay at the farmhouse.
FRIEND (Translation): Ahmad came
to me so I hid him here, I could not keep him at home. Imagine, near this
baking oven – near the firewood. I lifted this firewood and left him there
until nightfall. He was being chased so I got him to stay here. He stayed a
full day – I would bring him food at night.
But the immigration case
officer, Terry Cantwell found Al Akabi's claimed that
he had to flee after being abducted not to be credible.
‘Although the claimant
did not agree with me, I believe that his release by the Badr
Brigade, after payment of $10,000 US was actually the end of their interest in
the claimant.”
MARION LE: He
says yes, but it is the end of the matter because they let you go because the
ransom had been paid. That is utterly ridiculous - I have had families from
Iraq, who I have dealt with where one after another of the family has been
abducted, tortured and released on ransom payments, but the family itself is
never safe and if they do release that person and he does not behave or they
want to go after him again they do. The payment of the ransom is part of it,
but you also have to be a good Muslim. So it clearly was not the end of the matter. If I had been
in his position I would have been terrified.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): Yes, he was threatened that he would be killed, he was always….
I can’t mention names and things like that, I can’t.
The case officer also
found that Al Akabi,
‘was more a victim of a
criminal act of extortion and not targeted seriously for reason of his
political opinion.’
MARION LE: I
find that pathetic. Clearly this is political nexus and one of the convention
claims is that you fear persecution on the basis of
your political opinion. Here is someone who is asked
to join the Supreme Council and he refuses and then he is picked up by the Badr Brigade, whose part of that and then taken away and
tortured. If that is not for a political reason, what is it?
Al Akabi's
case they also stated that US and UN reports had shown a drop
in violence in Iraq.
‘I do not accept as
credible that he faces a real chance of serious harm shoulf
he return to Karbala or
Babel or Baghdad, at this time.’
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): He was always on the move, as I told you – he moved around a lot
– he wanted to find a place where he could feel safe, where he received no
threats.
REPORTER (Translation): So is Karbala safe?
FRIEND (Translation): No, Karbala is not safe, it is very dangerous,
there are shootings with silencers, assassinations and he was a wanted man.
REPORTER
(Translation): So Ahmad
is a genuine refugee.
FRIEND (Translation): Genuine,
yes. He was not lying, Ahmad is honest, he’s a believer. He is very honest
which is why he went to Australia.
In April this year even the Department of Foreign Affairs was warning
‘We strongly advise you
not to travel to Iraq because of the extremely
dangerous security situation, both foreign and Iraqi nationals continue to be
at risk of being kidnapped or murded.’
Al Akabi
appealed at the decision to reject his refugee claim but the decision was
upheld. He gave up trying to stay in Australia and agreed to leave. But the man
the authorities said was not at risk in Iraq was too afraid to return to his
homeland.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH (Translation):
He thought of going to Syria and settling there, that was the last
solution, then we would follow him there and live there with him.
As Al Akabi
waited and waited in Villawood his fellow boat people
from Karbala were released. He became frustrated
and depressed - life in Villawood was grim.
SAED MOSUAB (Translation): Psychologically, we got worse,
they would give us sleeping pills – not just him – everyone would get them, at
four, we would go before dinner. Everyone would go get the pills and come back
– those who were in a bad state.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): He told me
once that he was taking pills. He once told me “The doctor prescribed 35 pills
for me.” And he said he would
take the full dose. I said “Are you sane?” but a week
later, he died and I wonder if they affected his health.
These and other medical
issues may be dealt with a coronial enquiry later this year. International
Health and Medical services at Villawood, told
Dateline that they had full confidence in the ability of their staff to assess
detainee is at risk. Dateline has applied for Al Akabi's
medical reports under the Freedom of Information Act, but it may be a long
wait. Even the chair of the government's expert advisory panel says she is
being kept in the dark.
DR LOUISE NEWMAN, DETENTION
EXPERT HEALTH ADVISORY GROUP: It
is deeply concerning that the system may be dysfunctional, not providing the
levels of care that our committee are recommending. It is very difficult to get
information that will allow us to better advise government on the measures that
should be taken. We are the expert advisory panel, we are independent, and we
represent the various professional authorities. It would seem clear to me that
we should be provided with the levels of information and data that we need.
Immigration Minister
Chris Bowen’s spokesperson told Dateline.
IMMIGRATION SPOKESPERSON: ‘The
Department is aware of Professor Newman’s concerns regarding access to data and
is working with her to address these concerns.’
But we provided Professor
Newman with this new information, this photograph obtained by Dateline
allegedly shows where Al Akabi died in Villawood.
DR LOUISE NEWMAN: That is almost a purpose built
for the purposes of death. That is a very clear hanging point.... That would be
obvious to anyone who might have the wish to hang themselves. It is quite
strong, which is obviously one factor that might lead someone to hang
themselves from a point like that. From a basic safety point of view this is a
very unsafe environment. Our committee has recommended very urgent safety
audits be undertaken in the detention facilities.
The Immigration
Minister's spokeswoman told Dateline, ‘much of the existing Villawood
Detention Centre infrastructure is expected to be modified or replaced as part
of the Villawood redevelopment announced in the 2009
budget.’
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): He was with them, they are responsible for him, it is as if they
gave their prisoner the opportunity to kill himself. Where is the supervision?
Where are the cameras? Why
weren’t they watching?
In the end Al Akabi did return home.
HOUDA MOHAMMAD SALEH
(Translation): It is such a shock when you expect him to be knocking at the
door and coming in and instead he comes in a coffin. My daughters ask me ‘Mum,
when we grow up will dad come back?’ What can I answer them?
Reporter/Camera
FOUAD HADY
Producer
GEOFF PARISH
Researcher
MELANIE MORRISON
Canberra Crew
JEFF KEHL
CHRIS LEGGE
Editors
NICK O’BRIEN
DAVID POTTS
Translations/Subtitling
SUHEIL DAMOUNY
ZAINAB ABDUL-NABI
DALIA MATAR
JOSEPH ABDO
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN
29th May 2011