Fears of another Nauru attempted suicide charge

NAURU – Refugee advocates in Australia are concerned that another refugee will be charged with attempted suicide after Nauru police arrested a 38-year-old Iranian refugee this week.

The Iranian refugee had reportedly splashed himself with petrol and set himself alight before neighbours intervened with a fire extinguisher.

Fire fighters and police attended the incident, with police arresting the man and taking him to the police station.

Fellow refugees and advocates are concerned that the Iranian man will be charged with attempted suicide as a result of the incident.

Last week, another Iranian refugee pleaded guilty to the charge, which is recognised as a crime in Nauru.

The Iranian man, who is the sole guardian of his eight-year-old daughter in the detention centre, pleaded guilty to the offence of attempted suicide, according to a Nauru government statement.

He was reportedly ordered to pay a fine of $155.

The Nauru government said prosecutors wanted to “deter other would-be offenders who resort to self-harm to avoid lawful actions against them or to get what they want”.

“We are concerned that this method of protest is being used and want to stamp out this practice,” it said.

The latest incident comes as protests continue over delays in processing applications by those held by Canberra for more than 1000 days.

Meanwhile, the Australian Senate is backing a Greens motion ordering the government to table all contracts that it holds with Wilson Security.

The company provides security at the Australian detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, as well as in Australia.

The motion calls for any information relating to the due diligence process undertaken before those contracts were awarded to be revealed.

Greens’ senator Sarah Hanson-Young said there was a major shadow hanging over the government’s dealings with Wilson Security.

She said the Australian people deserved to know just how many millions of dollars had been pumped into the company that had links to offshore tax havens and the infamous Hong Kong billionaires, the Kwok brothers.

- RNZI