Testimony: Stolen lives, plight of Melbourne's Park Hotel refugees
Audio 03:29
Mehdi Ali, 24, detained by the authorities for 9 years, in the legal limbo of Australian asylum law.
© Personal archive courtesy of Mehdi Ali
By: Jelena Tomic Follow
4 mins
The Australian saga of the world number 1 in tennis has thrown an unexpected spotlight on the inhumane treatment of refugees in Australia.
Pending the court decision and his expulsion from the country, which became effective last Sunday, Novak Djokovic stayed several nights in the Park Hotel in Melbourne.
A 5-storey building, converted in 2020 into a detention center for immigrants.
The presence of the Serbian champion in this hotel revealed to the whole world the existence of these migrants, about forty residents, who are locked up there in violation of Australia's international obligations towards refugees and asylum seekers.
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Since the departure of Novak Djokovic, the street in front of the Park Hotel in the Carlton district, two kilometers from the center of Melbourne, has again been deserted.
Only a few activists continue to hold up placards in support of the refugees.
One of the residents of the Park Hotel is Mehdi Ali, he is 24 years old.
Mehdi is from the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, a persecuted and discriminated community in southern Iran.
“
We crossed Australian territorial waters on July 18, 2013 and reached Christmas Island on July 22.
We were immediately stopped and given numbers.
It is by these numbers that we are still identified today.
I arrived in Australia at the age of 15, I have been in detention for nine years
,” he says.
► To read also: Australia: dozens of migrants released after years of detention
“The majority of my fundamental rights have been taken away from me”
Canberra applies one of the strictest migration policies in the world and, since 2013, it has been “0 tolerance” for asylum seekers arriving by boat on its territory.
Once intercepted, the refugees are forcibly taken to offshore detention camps on the islands of Manus or Nauru, a micro island state in the Pacific, where Mehdi will stay for 6 years.
“
My experience is so difficult that I find it difficult to talk about it.
As I arrived at the age of 15, I could not complete my secondary education.
I was deprived of education and medical care.
In fact, the majority of my basic rights have been taken away from me.
All I can say is that it was a dark and cold time
,” Mehdi says.
The horror of detention camps
Words fail to describe the horror in these offshore detention camps, migrants are subjected to beatings, deprivation, some commit suicide by setting themselves on fire. In 2019, the Australian government adopted the Medevac law intended to facilitate medical repatriation to the mainland island for detainees who could not be treated on site. A few dozen refugees benefit from it, including Mehdi, who after Brisbane is transferred to Melbourne.
Psychologically I suffer, because I am still in detention.
What I'm going through is torture, I'm traumatized.
I came to Australia to ask for protection.
Two countries and the United Nations recognize my refugee status.
And yet the immigration services have the power to move us from one detention center to another, even if we have not committed any crime.
I'm not allowed to go out in the street, to have a coffee, or to meet people, I can't cook my meals.
I am locked in a cage.
So yes I have a lawyer, but he can't do anything for us, because the law authorizes the Minister of Immigration to detain us as long as he wishes.
We wait here helpless to regain our freedom.
https://t.co/Bx7vr1BKmm pic.twitter.com/beAtpcGoST
— Mehdi Ali (@MehdiAli98) December 16, 2021
“All I want is to live”
The presence of Novak Djokovic caused unexpected media attention.
Mehdi Ali calls for us not to forget them.
“
I do a series of interviews and do my best to keep people talking about us.
Rather than covering celebrity divorces, the media better talk about the abuse we're going through
,” he says.
Then to add: “
What is happening here is a humanitarian disaster.
Refugees are suffering, have suicidal thoughts.
People need to know what we are going through.
I'm really exhausted, my brain, my body are tired.
All I want is to live.
Because I've been surviving for 9 years.
I just want to get out of here and walk.
»
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Australia
Refugees
Immigration