Court grants bail to deported asylum seeker

By DAPHNE WANI
IRANIAN refugee Loghman Sawari, pictured, charged with providing false information to obtain a travel document was released from custody on a K1000 bail last Friday.
Boroko District Court Magistrate Alex Kalandi granted him bail and ordered that his guarantor Father Francis Xavier pay a surety fee of K500 in case he failed to appear in court.
Sawari will reside at the St Joseph Parish in East Boroko pending the completion of his court case.
He was charged with providing falsified information to the Immigration and Citizens Service Office at Waigani in Port Moresby on July 8 last year.
He managed to fly to Fiji to seek asylum there, but was deported back to PNG.
Sawari, 21, is from Hai Al Daire village in Iran and came to PNG when he was 17 years old in an attempt to seek refuge in Australia.
He was forced to come to PNG with other people because of the arrangement between the PNG and Australian governments.
His lawyer Loani Henao told the court that Sawari had acquired a passport through Isaac John from Skyview Consultancies through a post on Facebook.