RAC Press Release> Fellow detainees rescued a Tamil refugee who had attempted suicide by hanging from a roof beam at Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre at 1.30 am this (Friday) morning.
The Tamil refugee, the first Tamil to receive a negative ASIO finding had been in detention for 37 months. He was taken to hospital by ambulance, unconscious and with a weak pulse. His present condition is not known. The refugee is in his early thirties.
It is the second recent suicide attempt at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre in a month by ASIO rejected refugees.
The negative ASIO security finding condemns refugees to indefinite detention. There is no right to know what evidence ASIO relies on for the negative security finding and there is no right to review or appeal negative decisions.
“It has been clear for months that the ASIO negative refugees cannot tolerate indefinite detention for much longer,” said Lucy Honan from the Refugee Action Collective.
“Chris Bowen must urgently address the recommendations of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Immigration Detention that call for refugees to have the same rights of review and appeal for their ASIO assessments as Australian citizens. This has become a matter of life and death.”