Barnabasfund, 20 May 2002
Muslims Assault Non-muslims In Immigration Detention Centres
Australia
20 May 2002
A deeply disturbing scandal has emerged in Australia's immigration detention centres
where Christians and other non-Muslim asylum-seekers have been "stoned,
assaulted, sexually harassed and abused by Islamic fanatics".
Reza, an Iranian Christian, was blinded in one eye last August when a group of
Afghan Muslim men stoned Christians leaving the dining hall in Woomera detention
centre. In another incident a Christian man was kicked to the floor and his cross was
ripped from his neck. In December 2001 an eighteen-year-old Mandean girl (a small
religious group which follows the teachings of John the Baptist) was shouted at by
Muslim men in a dining hall who called her a "dirty, filthy infidel" who shouldn't be
allowed to serve food to Muslims. When she attempted to argue back she was
"pushed to the ground and kicked and abused." In a similarly shocking incident a
blind Mandean man was seized by Muslim men, held down and defecated on before
being left in a locked toilet. In other incidents non-Muslim girls have faced sexual
harassment and verbal abuse because they do not wear Islamic veils, the doorways of
Mandean asylum seekers have been defecated in, and a local Islamic mullah has
even ca
lled for a jihad (holy war) against Mandeans at the Port Hedland detention centre.
Non-Muslim men, women, and even children, many of whom fled Muslim-majority
countries like Iran in the first place because they were being persecuted for their faith,
are now facing abuse of a horrific nature from Muslim conservatives in Australia's
detention centres. The majority of asylum seekers in Australia are Muslims.
Witnesses say that extremist Shiah Muslims, particularly Iranians, Afghans and
Iraqis, are often those behind the violence. The BBC quotes Dr Graham Thom,
Amnesty International's Refugee Co-ordinator, as saying "The reports we're hearing
say that Mandeans, Tamils and other Hindus, Christians – in particular Christian
converts – are facing violence or threats of violence from certain Islamists within the
detention centres. They are being called infidels. They are being refused access to
kitchens and things like that because people think they are unclean as infidels. This
has escalated at times when there is a serious breakdown of order within the det
ention centre when there are riots and things like that and these groups, who often
refuse to participate in riots, are physically assaulted."
Chaplains, pastoral workers and staff at the Woomera, Curtin and Port Hedland
detention centres in Australia have spoken up about an atmosphere of Islamic
intimidation and terror in which the authorities seem powerless to protect the
non-Muslims. Whilst Muslim asylum-seekers have access to halal meat and
mosques, many non-Muslims' religious and dietary needs are not being met. In
Woomera Mandeans are now even allegedly forced to hold their religious meetings in
secret, and in Curtin no Mandean services are being held at all because the
authorities simply cannot guarantee the protection of the participants, and even
Christian services, including baptisms, have been severely restricted. The widespread
suffering and "constant discrimination" is leading to deep emotional distress and
psychological trauma. Jim Monaghan, a Christian chaplain at Woomera, says that "at
present the families there are very vulnerable. There have been attempted suicides
and other forms of self-harm ... they are desperate."
These shocking reports, which have been publicised by Australia's The Age
newspaper, the BBC, and Amnesty International, have raised a new factor in the
debate surrounding Australia's immigration policy, which is often criticised as being
harsh.
The reports also raise disturbing questions about the state of asylum centres in
Europe, America and other countries in the developed world. Could Christians and
other non-Muslim asylum-seekers be suffering similar discrimination in other contexts
where Muslims also make up the majority of asylum-seekers?
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