Behrouz Boochani, Award-Winning Author And Manus Island Detainee, Is Free
He has found freedom in New Zealand.
Behrouz Boochani, the refugee who was detained on Manus Island by the Australian government, has found his freedom in New Zealand.
Boochani, who was born in Western Iran and works as a journalist, was detained on Manus in 2013. Over the six years that he spent in detention, he co-directed a documentary about the treatment of refugees on the island, wrote numerous articles for The Guardian and The Saturday Paper, and won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Nonfiction for his book No Friend But The Mountains.
As per The Guardian, Boochani touched down in New Zealand yesterday. He has said that he will never again return to Manus. He has a one month visa to stay in New Zealand, and is reportedly hopeful of being re-settled in the US under the controversial refugee swap deal brokered by former PM Malcolm Turnbull.
@BehrouzBoochani is free pic.twitter.com/f8jlAWRguI
— Ben Doherty (@BenDohertyCorro) November 14, 2019
“After more than six years, I am very, very tired,” Boochani told The Guardian. “But I am glad to be away from that place. Everyone in Manus carries so many painful memories, we can never leave them on that island … but I am happy in my heart: I feel free.”
Of course, more refugees remain in Manus, and the Australian government’s Draconian attitude towards refugees still stands. This is no time to let the energy that many Australians carried over Boochani’s detention dissipate. There is more work to be done.
Lead image credit: Ben Doherty on Twitter.