INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE NEWS

August 18 – September 14, 2000

• Bosnian Serb police detained 12 [asylum seekers] from Iran on Thursday as they tried to cross the Sava River into Croatia, a United Nations spokesman Douglas Coffman told a news conference. So far this week Bosnia has detained 22 migrants from Iran, Iraq, Tunisia and Turkey en route to Western Europe, Coffman said. Last month, 12 Iranians drowned in the Sava River when their boat capsized as they tried to reach Croatia. Over the past two weeks, Croatia had turned back at least 309 migrants who had crossed from Bosnia, Coffman added. He called on the Bosnian government to clarify its policy on deporting “illegal immigrants” and to set up detention facilities. (Reuters, September 14, 2000)
• 
  Pakistan and Iran have agreed to exchange information about criminals, “illegal immigrants” [read asylum seekers] and speed up their extradition. The Iranian deputy interior minister, Syed Mostafa Tajzadeh, called on the interior minister, retired Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider, in Islamabad today [12th September]. (Radio Pakistan, Islamabad (via the BBC), September 14, 2000)

• Bill Morris, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, was accompanying a 30-year-old Iranian doctor who has fled religious persecution in his home country on his weekly shopping trip to highlight the grotesque voucher scheme operating in this country. The doctor, who came to Glasgow in the summer, lives on £26.34 in food vouchers and £10 in cash each week and gets support from charities for housing and clothes. (Press Association (UK), September 13, 2000)

• From the beginning of 2000 to the end of August, about 11,500 persons were caught crossing into Croatia illegally, said the Croatian Interior Ministry's foreigners and migrations department head, Bozena Katanec. Some of them were immediately deported and some were released on condition that they leave Croatia on their own. There are now 80 persons, caught as “illegal immigrants,” at a camp for foreigners in Jezevo, outside Zagreb. According to figures released by the Interior Ministry, the highest numbers of “illegal immigrants” are Romanians (3,640 of them have entered Croatia without valid papers). They are followed by Turks (2,500), Iranians (2,470) and the Chinese (527) and Yugoslav citizens, i.e. Kosovo Albanians (600). (HINA news agency, Zagreb (via BBC), September 12, 2000)

• The State Marine police detained 1,131 “illegal immigrants” at several popular landing spots here in the first eight months of the year. From the 1,131 [asylum seekers] detained, 968 were Indonesians, Iraqis (102), Iranians (17), Bangladeshi (one) and others (43). In the latest incident at 2am today, he said, the Marine police detained 77 Indonesian “illegal immigrants” comprising 58 men and 19 women during an Ops Nyah operation at Sungai Condong, near here. He said the asylum seekers aged between 15 and 50 were believed to have left Dumai in Indonesia at 6pm yesterday. (New Straits Times (Malaysia), September 12, 2000)
• 
  Australian Federal Police have charged 11 [asylum seekers] from Iraq and Iran over “rioting” at the Woomera Detention Centre last month. Eight of the charged men are in custody at the Adelaide Remand Centre, three are being held at the Woomera Detention Centre. One has been given bail to appear at the Port Augusta Magistrates Court next month, the remainder will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on September 22. They have been charged with public order offences and obstructing police. It brings to 18 the total number of people charged following last month’s incident at Woomera. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 12, 2000)
• 
  Fifteen people jumped off a train at the Channel Tunnel complex in Folkestone, Kent, including two Romanians, seven Bangladeshis, three Iraqis and three Iranians. They were all arrested. (Daily Mail (London), September 6, 2000)

• The federal government is under fire over its move to deport “failed asylum seekers” even if their application for refugee status is under review by the United Nations. Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said it was disgraceful that Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, had recommended withdrawing from the complaints process of the International Convention Against Torture. (The Associated Press, September 5, 2000)
• 
  Eighteen Iranian nationals, including two children, were detained Tuesday by Bosnian police while attempting to illegally cross into Croatia. The group was arrested near Brcko, in the northwest of the country. (Agence France Presse, September 5, 2000)

• Turkish security forces have detained 179 [asylum seekers] in the eastern province of Van. During the previous 48 hours, security forces detained 51 Iraqis on the back of a truck they stopped near the town of Gurpinar in Van province bordering Iran. In a second operation, 43 Iraqi and 8 Uzbek nationals were caught while walking on foot towards Gurpinar. Troops in Edirne province, which borders Greece, detained 69 [asylum seekers], including Iranians, Iraqis, Afghanis and Palestinians. Since January, more than 5,000 people have been detained in Turkey while trying to reach Europe. (Agence France Presse, September 4, 2000)

• Five “illegal immigrants” charged with property offences in relation to the riots, who appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court - four Iraqis and one Iranian ranging in age from 21 to 31 - were remanded in custody by Magistrate Tony Newman to appear again next Tuesday. All have been charged with property offences. Ahadee also faces a charge of physical violence. The men appeared today handcuffed and flanked by court guards during their brief, individual hearings in which they all remained silent. Charged are Ahadee, Bahman Darabi, 25, Farid Sameri, 24, Farhad Guraat, 21 and Fersheed Mokhtaryan, who was listed as being born in 1969. Twenty-four of the refugee seekers were removed from the centre last Tuesday and taken to the Adelaide Remand Centre, where they remain in custody. Australian Federal Police expect to lay more charges by the end of this week. (The Associated Press, September 4, 2000)

• Refugee groups today warned of more riots like this week's Woomera detention centre rampage unless the government changes its treatment of asylum-seekers. At a rally outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney, protesters voiced their support for the rebellion at the South Australian complex. "We wholeheartedly support and understand why this happened as refugees have been denied their rights in every way," Ian Rintoul, spokesman for the Refugee Action Collective, said. "There is no other way to make their voices heard and we are here to tell (Immigration Minister Philip) Ruddock that he's going to continue to see riots in detention centres and protests on the streets." A former refugee from Iran, who would only give the name Cyrus, accused Mr Ruddock of being racist against Middle East refugees. "What (Ruddock) has done to refugees in this country is shameful - detention centres are Nazi camps," he said. Maqsood Alshams, a Bangladeshi journalist, who was released from Villawood detention Centre in Sydney four months ago, said conditions were inhumane for detainees. "There are not enough beds, people have to sleep on mattresses on the floor, there were food shortages five times in January, they gave us expired medicines and assaults on detainees are common," Mr. Alshams said. The protesters called on the government to end mandatory detention of asylum seekers and grant full rights to refugees instead of temporary visas. (The Associated Press, September 1, 2000)

• Police retrieved the bodies of another five Iranians who drowned after their boat carrying at least 20 “illegal immigrants” capsized in the river separating Bosnia and Croatia. The find of the five bodies raised the official death toll to twelve, including three children, since the ill-fated crossing on Tuesday. At least four Iranians also drowned while trying to cross the Sava River to Croatia on their way to Western European countries in May. In the first six months of this year, Croatian customs officers detained more than 5,000 people for allegedly trying to cross the border illegally. (The Associated Press, August 31, 2000)

• Croatian police have handed over to Bosnian police 66 “illegal immigrants” from Iran, Iraq and Turkey, U.N. officials said Thursday. They were detained in Croatia after transiting through Bosnia en route to Western Europe. The 13 Iraqis, 47 Iranians and 6 Turks were discovered hiding in the back of a large truck. They were handed to the Bosnians at a border crossing. International officials estimate that some 20,000 migrants try to reach the West every year. Croatian police also informed the U.N. that they sighted two more bodies in the Sava River on Thursday morning and were trying to retrieve them. The bodies of four adults and three children were found earlier this week. The victims belonged to a group of Iranians whose boat capsized Tuesday while they were trying to cross the river to Croatia. (The Associated Press, August 31, 2000)

· Enduring the heat, about 20 Iranian and Bangladeshi children chanted, "give us visas" and "be fair when making the decision" in Japanese from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. The children are among 64 overstayers who have turned themselves over to immigration authorities to seek residency since Sept. 1, 1999. (Asahi News, August 29, 2000)

• Up to nine Iranians are believed to have drowned when their boat capsized while they were trying to illegally cross the northern Bosnian border to Croatia, the United Nations said on Tuesday. One of the two boats carrying Iranians across the Sava River a border between Bosnia and Croatia turned over with 10 persons on board near the northern Bosnian town of Bosanski Brod. One survivor reached the Bosnian bank of the river Sava and informed the local police that the others probably drowned. Several persons, in the other boat that crossed safely, have been detained by the Croatian police on the other side. Police from both countries are searching the river and its banks for either survivors or bodies of those who drowned, he said. The Iranians arrived in Bosnia on Monday, on a flight from Istanbul. This is the second time in recent months that Iranians drowned while trying to cross the Sava River to Croatia on their way to western Europe. At least four drowned in May. (The Associated Press, August 29, 2000)

• Bosnian police arrested 31 Iranians and 25 Kurds for trying to enter or leave the country illegally. 25 Kurds were apprehended while trying to enter Croatia. None of the group, which included 20 men, 1 woman and 4 children, possessed any personal documents. Also, over the weekend, local police informed international policemen that 31 Iranians were detained for attempting to cross into Bosnia without documents. All those apprehended will be deported to their home countries. (The Associated Press, August 22, 2000)

• Turkish police detained 145 [asylum seekers], most of them apparently trying to make their way to Europe. Police rounded up 126 Iraqis and 19 Iranians in 2 villages of the eastern Van province, bordering Iran. (The Associated Press, August 18, 2000)