Asylum seeker sees centre as prison camp

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REFUGEES at the East Lorengau transit centre on Manus have described the centre as a prison camp with no hope for freedom under the Australia government.
They have also raised concern about many of them suffering from mental and emotional stress as a result of being held without a definite future.
Iranian refugee Ali Fardmavini, who was recently moved from the now-decommissioned processing centre at Lombrum to the East Lorengau transit centre said yesterday that he was forced to shift because the authorities refused to provide treatment for his illness.
“So I had to force myself out of the closed Lombrum camp to the transit centre, but again health services are not available here,” he said.
“All we have been seeking is freedom, nothing but freedom, and that is what all of us have been seeking.
“Our aim was to go to Australia but look at what the Australian government is doing to us. If it wasn’t for the Papua New Guinea Government, we wouldn’t live or be accommodated here in Manus.”
Fardmavini said there was no health or counselling services available at the transit centre.
“We have been living in a prison for more than four years here but what crime have we committed to deserve this sort of treatment?” Fardmavini said.
“This year, two refugees committed suicide because of mental problems caused by extreme mental depression. We have faced a very severe situation, tried our best to council and comfort them. It’s a situations that is created mostly by the Australian government and it’s worse than the war that is going on in Syria.”
He said there was no problem with the locals in Manus.