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Villawood Detention Centre: Death of David Saunders – third Death in Three Months
Villawood Detention Centre continues to be a place of death with the third death of a detained man in three months. David Saunders, a 29 year old British national held for “visa breaches” was found dead at 3.20 am in the morning on 8 September. Mr Saunders was held in the high security wing and is reported to have been wanted in Britain on criminal charges. The cause of his death is not immediately known, although refugee advocates say he committed suicide. Media report that the man “did not arrive by boat”. Presumably he arrived by plane (there being no other way of arriving in Australia). Why the mode of his arrival is considered…
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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…
