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Turned back asylum seekers say Australian Navy mistreated them
ABC Radio Australia - January 8, 2014
There were revelations yesterday that the Australian Navy has recently turned or "pushed" back two asylum seeker boats to Indonesia.
Speaking from Kupang in Indonesia, two men from two separate journeys have described their experiences to the media for the first time. Though difficult to verify, both men's stories are strikingly similar.
One man named Yusuf identified himself as a Sudanese asylum seeker, and says he and his wife paid $6,000 to travel from Indonesia to Australia. They boarded a boat with more than 40 others, and reached a small island off the coast of Darwin before the engine broke down on New Year's Day.
Yusuf says after the group called the United Nations for help, two Australian naval ships arrived. The ship numbers he gave correlate to those for HMAS Parramatta and HMAS Glenelg.
Yusuf says the Navy used force on some people, including women, while transferring them to one of the Navy boats. Yusuf says a number of people were handcuffed or restrained, and that some of the people on board jumped into the water.
"Some of our people, they jump on the water as a protest. Nine people," he said. "And then they take them aboard and then they beat them and they hung on their hands."
It was the start of a tow-back that was to last five days. Yusuf says those on board were told they were being taken to Christmas Island, denied their satellite and navigation tools and given just one meal a day.
He claims the Navy fixed one of the boat's engines before the asylum seekers were forced back onto their boat. He says the Navy then abandoned the group in the middle of the night in rough seas off Indonesia's Rote Island.
"So we are there and we don't know any direction, we don't have any information. We don't know any place how to go," Yusuf said. "We stopped there until the morning and we tried to move but our engine was very bad. We found a mountain in front of us. It was island."
They made it ashore on the island, and are now in an immigration centre in Kupang. "We arrived there and then we land down there, we found some Indonesian people. They help us," he said.
"Some people, they're sick. Some people, they have some problem [after being] in the water more than 15 days. That's why they help us, the Indonesian people."
Navy personnel 'punched people who were complaining'
Yuuf's account is similar to a story told by Marke, who identified himself as Somali. He was onboard the first boat reportedly towed back to Indonesian territory on December 10.
Marke claims there was some rough handling of asylum seekers by personnel from HMAS Parramatta and HMAS Maitland.
"Not just punching me but they [punched]... people who were complaining," he said. "People who [said] 'we are not going to head back to Indonesia'."
Neither Prime Minister Tony Abbott nor Immigration Minister Scott Morrison have ever been willing to describe what a tow-back operation involves.
Asylum seekers 'told a lie about going to Australia'
Marke says his experience was a simple roping manoeuvre, followed by a tactical deception about their destination. "They put a rope. Then they said, 'We are going to Australia, to Christmas Island'. They told us a lie," he said.
A few days later Marke and his fellow asylum seekers were put back onto their boat. "When we reach, when we were nearby the island of Indonesia, they... fix one of our machines," he said.
"They start our machine. They say, 'Go. You can land over there. It's about 15 kilometres'. And then they seemed to run away and disappeared."
In a statement, Mr Morrison says the Government will not comment on "operational" matters.
"For operational security reasons, the Government does not disclose, confirm or otherwise comment on reports of on-water activities in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders," he said.
"Australian personnel serving within Border Protection Command conduct themselves professionally and responsibly, in accordance with their operational protocols."
Labor earlier accused the Government of running a "Stalinist" and "North Korean"-style media blackout after refusing to comment on reports Australia will buy 16 lifeboats to ferry asylum seekers back to Indonesia.
Mr Morrison has also rejected claims Yusuf made about four people falling overboard before Australian authorities arrived.
"In relation to reports of claims that four people may have fallen overboard from a suspected illegal entry vessel inside Australian waters, I am advised that these claims were acted on and rigorously assessed at the time they were made and were deemed to be false," he said.
"This assessment included close questioning of all people on board the vessel, including the Master of the vessel who indicated that no-one had fallen overboard.
"It is important to note that the claimed incident occurred well before the suspected illegal entry vessel had been intercepted by Australian authorities."
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