Australia deports 57 Vietnamese boat people
Australia deports 57 Vietnamese boat people
SYDNEY (Reuter): A group of 57 Vietnamese boat people, some bound hand and foot and carried on to an aircraft, were deported from Australia to Indonesia yesterday.
The Australian government confirmed the surprise deportation in a statement, saying the 57 were "removed from Australia" because their refugee applications had already been rejected while in the Galang migrant detention camp in Indonesia.
"They were handcuffed with plastic ties, two of them were bound hand and foot and were carried onto the plane by Australian Protective Services (guards)," said freelance cameraman Steve Lowe from Port Hedland on Australia's far northwest coast. "One lady was crying," he added.
It is not normal practice to handcuff migrant deportees.
An immigration department spokesman in Canberra confirmed some of the Vietnamese had been handcuffed and two carried on to the aircraft, saying this was necessary to ensure the safety of the aircraft and passengers.
The group arrived in Australia in three boats at different times in September and October and were taken to Australia's main migrant detention center at Port Hedland.
Under a controversial new law that came into effect on Nov. 15, but which is retrospective to Sept. 1, people already assessed in another country under an international settlement plan are prevented from seeking asylum in Australia.
Australia has accepted almost 17,000 people under the international plan entitled the Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Yesterday's deportation, carried out without prior notification and the first under the new law, has angered the group's lawyer and Australia's Vietnamese community.
"It's pretty atrocious to bind people hand and foot, people who have come here seeking asylum, and boot them out under retrospective legislation," lawyer Dennis Crook told Reuters.
Vietnamese leaders in Melbourne earlier yesterday failed in Australia's federal court to get an injunction to stop the deportation.
"We are very, very disappointed," said Win Tun, a spokesman for Vietnamese refugees in Australia. "There are many flaws in the assessment process in Galang and they escaped and risked their lives to come here to be properly treated."
Win said Vietnamese boat people feared reprisals when they returned home. He quoted a recent letter from five who had voluntarily returned as saying they had been severely beaten.
Immigration Minister Nick Bolkus said all those deported had failed to meet the UN definition of a refugee.
Over 1,000 boat people have arrived in Australia since November 1989. The latest group of 118 arrived in Australia last Sunday and were taken to Port Hedland.