Iranian Sews Mouth Shut, Sues Oz For His Insanity
AN IRANIAN refugee who sewed his lips together while on a hunger strike in Baxter Detention Centre is now suing the Commonwealth of Australia for damages.
Abdul Amir Hamidi came to Australia on a boat in June 2000 from Iran, where he had been imprisoned and tortured for several months.
Mr Hamidi, 35, claims his treatment by Australian authorities triggered a severe psychiatric illness, for which he will need supervision for the rest of his life.
In his South Australian Supreme Court statement of claim, Mr Hamidi says he was repeatedly physically and verbally abused by detention centre guards.
When being transferred to the Woomera detention centre in 2001, Mr Hamidi says he was left handcuffed and without water for up to five hours in stifling heat, as guards lunched at a roadside cafe.
Mr Hamidi claims he was denied access to a doctor of his choice after sewing his lips together as part of a hunger strike at Baxter in late 2004.
During his detention, Mr Hamidi swallowed shampoo and laundry powder, slashed himself with razors, hit himself in the head with rocks and tried to hang himself.
Despite his history of self harm, Mr Hamidi says he was denied psychiatric treatment for anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.
Mr Hamidi says he was held in isolation cells for long periods, when “it should have been obvious that such confinement could itself cause or exacerbate psychological or psychiatric damage.”
He was released from detention on Christmas Eve 2004, after the Federal Court ordered he be put into a mental health facility.
Mr Hamidi, who is now an Australian citizen, is the first detainee to launch legal action in South Australia.
Last month, the NSW Supreme Court awarded former detainee Parviz Yousefi $800,000 for permanent psychological damage suffered in detention.
In 2006, the same court awarded Iranian child Shayan Badraie $400,000 after the Commonwealth agreed to a settlement midway through a trial.
The Commonwealth has been given until later this month to file its defence.
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Send them back to Iran!
February 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pmDeport!
Brian
February 16th, 2008 at 5:42 pmTow him into the Pacific on a dugout canoe with a bomb vest strapped to him and let him rip. He’s tried so many times to kill himself…it would only be fair that for once it would work.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:29 pmOh, please, Abdul!
I’ve seen some folks with metal piercings ALL over their faces … Things pierced open and shut … and they ain’t claiming “severe psychiatric illness” … Just poor fashion sense.
What makes a guy with a bad self-hem-job so special?
February 16th, 2008 at 6:44 pmG’day from oz (Australia). He’s lucky we didn’t take him pig shooting & make him have a bacon sandwich. Fuck the shrimp on the barbie, we hate these cunts as much as you blokes.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:25 amThe definition of Utopia: All the Liberals having their mouths sewn shut.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pmSo can i hurt myself and then sue because i hurt myself? Dumb ass, thecourt should award him a year’s supply of razors and soap, so he can eat and keep hiimself occupied.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:31 pm