“The tragic death of a 62 year old Iranian immigration detainee is yet another disgraceful and entirely preventable cost of the ongoing mandatory detention policy” said Pamela Curr, of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). “Mr F was taken to St Georges Hospital on Friday for an appointment. There he suffered a heart attack and collapsed on the steps of the hospital as he struggled to walk-in. He died in Intensive Care today, Sunday. Detainees in Villawood have been requesting care for this man who was held in Stage 3. Fellow detainees say that he had to walk 100 metres uphill to the dining room using an umbrella to assist him to walk. often too exhausted to eat. Only last week fellow detainees sought improved medical care for sick detainees,” Ms Curr reported.

“Mr F. continued to be detained at the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) even after it was acknowledged that his condition was so serious that he could not fly making deportation impossible. How then could the Department of Immigration continue to detain such a frail and vulnerable individual in the Villawood Prison instead of releasing him to be cared for in the community?” asked Charandev Singh, volunteer human rights advocate at the Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre.

“Mr F’s death in custody is yet more horrific evidence of the lethal human cost of mandatory detention. Since December 2000 there have been at least 18 deaths in all forms of immigration detention in Australia and Nauru. This represents a seventeen hundred percent increase in immigration detention deaths when compared to the period 1991-2000. Villawood IDC is ‘managed’ for profit by GSL Limited, a multinational prison and detention corporation with a long history of deaths in custody in their prisons.” said Mr Singh.

“It is critical that Immigration Minister Chris Evans accepts the first recommendation of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner Graham Innes who said unequivocally that "Australia’s mandatory detention laws should be repealed".

This is the chance for the Rudd Government to break with this history of death, abuse and scandal that is integral to the mandatory detention policy.” concluded Ms Curr.

Pamela Curr,Asylum Seekers Resource Centre: 0417 517 075
Charandev Singh, Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre: 0403 659 431

Mr Cai, a Chinese man who was receiving regular dialysis, was deported to China where he died threemonths later. A witness reported that he was called to property and handcuffed. When he said he could not return because he would die without dialysis the response was "too bad - you're going."

These deaths in Villawood join deaths on Christmas island, Nauru, Maribyrnong and other places of detention.

This week the Human Rights and Equal Oopportunity Commissioner recommended again that the policy of mandatory detention be dismantled.

Pamela Curr