There has been an increase in suicide attempts by refugees in Australia’s detention centres, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Tuesday.
The concerned refugees are all stuck in a legal limbo, due to them being deemed security threats by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
A total of 47 refugees have been given adverse security assessments by the ASIO, which makes it impossible for them to be released or resettled in Australia.
These refugees are not permitted to see evidence against them or to know the criteria used to assess them.
Two Tamils have attempted suicide in the past month and a third “stood screaming with an electrical cord clutched in his hand late on Sunday at the spot his friend had swung by the neck until almost dead three nights before.”
The man concerned was rescued from the Oceanic Viking in 2009 and was distraught after listening to a Mother’s Day program on the radio.
Another Tamil woman was detained with her two children last week after the ASIO decided she was a security risk.
The woman and her children lived in Melbourne for over a year, but they were detained as the ASIO had found her deceased husband used to be a driver for the LTTE.
According to Melbourne-based lawyer Julian Burnside there was no review system for assessment made by the ASIO.
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