A 37-year-old Bosnian refugee, Adin (not his real name), is now in his eighth day of hunger strike at the Brisbane Transit Immigration Accommodation (BITA) detention centre.
In October, Adin signed to voluntarily return to Bosnia. But he has been told he ‘will not be going anywhere any time soon.’
But at the beginning of November, he was punitively transferred to BITA’s Moreton compound as a warning from Serco and Border Force to cease defending people in immigration detention and publicising abuses inside the detention facility.
Adin is demanding that he be taken out of the Moreton compound.
A change.org petition has now been started in Adin’s real name Armin Redzic.
Border Force is now refusing to provide Armin with any update on their plans to return him to Bosnia. Border Force officers told Armin, “It is ABF policy to not engage with detainees who are demonstrating or engaging in protest behaviour.”
Armin became a refugee after he, and his family, fled the war in Bosnia. He was 17 years old when he left Croatia in 2001 to join his mother after she had been accepted as a refugee in Australia.
Armin has been held in immigration detention since his refugee visa was cancelled in 2015.
“There is no reason for Armin to be held in punitive detention in Moreton compound. Border Force and Serco are desperate to avoid any scrutiny and prevent evidence of abuse in detention going beyond the detention fences,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Armin could be freed on a bridging visa while he waits for arrangements to be made for his return to Bosnia. There are precedents for that, but it would be too much to expect common sense from Border Force.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
