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Ahmad Al Akabi: Another asylum seeker death in Villawood
Ahmad Al-Akabi, aged 41, had a wife and was a father of three girls aged two, four and seven. He had come to Australia and had hoped to eventually bring his family with him. He arrived by boat. He was from Iraq. He is reported to have been in detention for over a year: first in Christmas Island and then in Villawood (a security facility surrounded by razor wire in Sydney). He had fled Iraq after being attacked by religious militias.[1] It is said that his two applications for asylum were rejected. It is also reported that he had begged immigration authorities to be allowed to go home. His deportation request was confirmed…
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Villawood Protests
What is a “protest”? In the context of democracy we think of them as citizen action – citizens speaking to their government – expressing their dissatisfaction with a policy or state of affairs. What then are we to make of the actions of a few non-citizens protesting on the roof of the Villawood detention centre in Sydney Australia? The protest started with the leap to his death of Josevata Rauluni 36 from the same roof on 20 September 2010 – who did not wish to be deported. A needless tragedy – for what harm could have come to Australia to extend to this man the hand of welcome? On our…
