‘They are torturing us. We cannot breathe’: A Kurdish refugee’s tweets and a nation damned

Join us on social

Newsletters

Scroll to top

Get Access Code.

Enter your email address and Crikey will send a Verification Code

Enter the Verification Code sent to

to confirm your account.
The Verification Code will expire in 1 hour.

Want some assistance?

Contact us on: [email protected] or call the hotline: +61 (03) 8623 9900.

In Australia, many refugees like Mostafa Azimitabar are still deemed unworthy of their humanity and what’s theirs under international law.

Mostafa Azimitabar speaks outside the Federal Court in Melbourne (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

The handful of tweets, all dated and neatly set out in one paragraph in the 87-page judgment, read like a chilling indictment of the nation. 

The first warns of the lack of open air: “There’s not any outdoor space for breathing … We have been locked up in hotels … No trees, no breath”. This same disquiet manifests again two weeks later: “There’s no outdoor space for breathing here”, the tweet says. “We need help please…” 

Over the months that follow, the author’s burgeoning mental anguish folds into physical collapse: “They have taken the sky away from us”, one tweet says; “our bodies are getting weaker day by day”, says another. “[We] are deprived of sunlight.”

Read more about the persecution of refugees like Mostafa Azimitabar.

Become a subscriber to get full access to the website, as well as our premium newsletters.

Join us

Already a subscriber? Log in to keep reading.

About the Author

Maeve McGregor

Reporter

Maeve McGregor is a reporter for Crikey, with a special interest in law and government integrity issues. Prior to this, she was a lawyer.

Comments

The Crikey comment section is members-only content. Please login to engage in the commentary.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Crikey – https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/07/07/mostafa-azimitabar-refugee-hotel-detention-tweets/