Refugee’s body still on island

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Papua New Guinea and Australian governments are yet to give clearance for the repatriation of the body of a Pakistan refugee who died on Manus Island last week.

Kamil Hussain drowned at a swimming area last Tuesday on Manus where he and around 900 other asylum seekers have been sent in the past three years by Australia for offshore processing.

His family in Pakistan are desperate for his body to be sent home, however fellow Pakistanis held on Manus said PNG and Australian authorities are holding up the process.

A letter from the Pakistan consulate general in Sydney has been sent to the Australian and PNG Immigration offices notifying them that they will organise for Kamil’s body to be sent home and cover the costs.

However, the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Service notified the Pakistanis on Manus last night that clearances for the movement of the deceased person were still being obtained.

Immigration said that additional medical reports were required.

A spokesman for the Pakistanis on Manus, Naseem Haider, said that the delay means there is an urgent need to preserve the body, describing a callous and unhelpful response to the situation by PNG and Australian officials who manage the Manus centre.

He claims staff of the centre administrator, Broadspectrum, were directed not to assist in efforts to wash the body, as part of normal Muslim ritual.

Haider said the manner in which they have been kept waiting is consistent with the human rights abuses he and others at the Manus centre have suffered in the past three years.

Haider said there is onus on the government who transferred the asylum seekers to be held illegally on Manus, to help.

“Kamil was forcefully sent to Manus by the Australian government. He should not even have been on the island,” he said.

Haider said that the tragic loss of their friend last week brought the hopelessness of the asylum seekers’ situation into sharp relief.

“We all are the victims of Australia hell hole policy,” he said. “We are trapped in this place and has been helpless from last three year without knowing our future.” - RNZI