Mandatory detention review ends soon

Recently freed queer refugee Ali Humayun was one of 461 people held in mandatory detention under a policy that is being investigated by a Parliamentary committee.

A spokeswoman for the committee said the final report wouldn’t be available until next year but the call for submissions would close shortly.

GetUp, supported by queer activist norrie mAy-welby and Community Action Against Homophobia, is seeking views and support for its own submission, hoping to end the policy and end a regrettable chapter of Australian history that caused unimaginable suffering to some of the world’s most desperate and downtrodden.

Humayun spent more than three years in detention and became addicted to heroin, introduced to him by a fellow detainee, while trying to cope with the indefinite incarceration.

For over a decade, governments have been so concerned not to appear soft on asylum seekers that they have denied basic rights and dignity and opted for the cheap politics of fear, the activist group emailed members this week.

It is seeking 50,000 signatures by the end of the week via its website www.getup.org.au/campaign/EndMandatoryDetention