{"id":1082951,"date":"2023-06-13T07:43:41","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T07:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=89702"},"modified":"2023-06-13T07:43:41","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T07:43:41","slug":"mental-torture-protesters-seek-freedom-for-detained-iran-refugee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/06\/13\/mental-torture-protesters-seek-freedom-for-detained-iran-refugee\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mental torture\u2019: Protesters seek freedom for detained Iran refugee"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Lydia Lewis<\/a>, RNZ Pacific<\/a> journalist, and Christina Persico<\/a>, RNZ Pacific<\/a> bulletin editor<\/em><\/p>\n As Australian protesters gathered outside the Brisbane detention centre calling for the freedom of a Nauru refugee, the man pleaded with authorities to release him.<\/p>\n Hamid has been held in a hotel room and then the detention centre for months.<\/p>\n “They want to kill me gradually with mental torture,” he said.<\/p>\n “New Zealand government, please save me from the cruel and inhuman clutches of Australian politicians,” Hamid, an Iranian who was held on Nauru for almost a decade, told RNZ Pacific.<\/p>\n He is one of hundreds of refugees who had sought asylum in Australia but was detained offshore.<\/p>\n He was brought to Australia in February 2023 for medical treatment and then kept in a hotel room in Brisbane.<\/p>\n “They are actually cruel. And they are actually killing me by mental torture,” Hamid said.<\/p>\n Other refugees released<\/strong> “And they didn’t release me and they released everyone in front of my eyes. So what is this after 10 years? After 10 years, they are putting me in a detention centre with a lot of criminal people. What is this? It’s torture!” Hamid said.<\/p>\n He was held first in the Meriton Hotel, in Brisbane, and on June 7 he was transferred to the Brisbane detention centre.<\/p>\n\n
\nOther refugees brought to Australia have been released from hotel detention within a week or two but not Hamid, who said he had been confined for weeks on end.<\/p>\n