<
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/former-nauru-detainees-protest-for-permanent-residency/hf4389amj>
“At first glance, Sara Mashalian looks like she's living a happy suburban life
in Australia.
The 42-year-old lives with her partner, Ali Gharaei, in Sydney's West and works
as a dental assistant; Gharaei owns an IT business.
The pair are renovating their home and building a veggie patch in their
backyard, complete with a classic Hills hoist.
But the Australian government doesn't want Mashalian to call Australia home —
because of the way she arrived.
"I left Iran in 2013 after becoming a Christian. Converting from Islam is
considered a crime punished by death. And it was no longer safe for me to
stay," she tells
SBS News.
"I came to Australia by boat. The journey was far more terrifying than anything
I could have imagined: extremely dangerous, traumatic, and full of fear,"
Mashalian says.
"But we didn't have any choice."
Mashalian arrived just days after the then-Labor government implemented a new
hardline immigration policy on 19 July 2013.
Under the policy, any asylum seeker arriving by boat and sent to mandatory
offshore detention would never be settled permanently in Australia.
It was a position then-prime minister Kevin Rudd said would deter people
smuggling operations and unauthorised boat arrivals.”
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
