<
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/22/behrouz-boochani-the-refugee-writer-who-exposed-the-cruelty-of-australias-island-jail>
"When Ben Doherty met Behrouz Boochani for the first time, it was the middle of
the night on Manus Island.
The two journalists embraced in the darkness of the immigration detention
centre.
Boochani was struck by how tall Doherty was. The
Guardian Australia reporter
was shocked by the refugee’s frailty, his ribs visible in the moonlight.
“I knew of the mental anguish being in those situations had but the physical
impact on his body was extreme,” he says. “Behrouz was a really unwell man by
the end of his detention.”
Doherty was smuggled into the newly decommissioned centre in a fishing boat
during a 2017 standoff, when hundreds of refugees – fearing they would be
attacked by local residents – were refusing to leave it. Water and power had
been cut, people were digging wells and there was little food or medicine.
“There was a building tension something was going to break,” Doherty says. “It
was confronting, being in the reality of that place.”
Now close friends, the pair first made contact in 2014, soon after Doherty was
appointed
Guardian Australia’s immigration correspondent."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
