The Freedom Shop Aotearoa

February 17th marks four years since Reza Barati was murdered in detention. Reza was a 23-year-old Iranian refugee seeking asylum but Australian border policy meant he was detained on Manus Island in an Australian run detention centre. On February 17, 2014, he was murdered. For several weeks in early 2014, asylum seekers detained in the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre had been protesting against their treatment. They said that physical and verbal abuse by security guards (from Australian company G4S) was common place. Tensions rose when on 14 February, the refugees were told of Australia’s new policy to not allow anyone who had arrived by boat to settle in Australia. On 17 February the camp was attacked and Reza Barati was murdered. An inquiry found he was hit with a piece of timber with a nail sticking out, before he was bashed with a large rock on his head. G4S security guards (who were there to guard the camp) participated in the attack. On Manus and Nauru, another Australia

February 17th marks four years since Reza Barati was murdered in detention. Reza was a 23-year-old Iranian refugee seeking asylum but Australian border policy meant he was detained on Manus Island in an Australian run detention centre. On February 17, 2014, he was murdered. For several weeks in early 2014, asylum seekers detained in the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre had been protesting against their treatment. They said that physical and verbal abuse by security guards (from Australian company G4S) was common place. Tensions rose when on 14 February, the refugees were told of Australia’s new policy to not allow anyone who had arrived by boat to settle in Australia. On 17 February the camp was attacked and Reza Barati was murdered. An inquiry found he was hit with a piece of timber with a nail sticking out, before he was bashed with a large rock on his head. G4S security guards (who were there to guard the camp) participated in the attack. On Manus and Nauru, another Australia

The situation of the refugees who have been abandoned by Australia on Manus Island is getting worse by the day. They have been without food, water or medical supplies for 19 days now and many of them are acutely ill. On Saturday, the supposedly safe new camp in Lorengau was invaded by locals, armed with knives and machetes, who turned the electricity generator off. We need to get them here now! The Freedom Shop has put together two resources that can help spread information and raise awareness.   A twelve-page A5 pamphlet titled “The Manus Refugee Crisis – the story so far” provides a bit of background on the Australian detention policy and the history of the Manus camp, before giving a day-by-day chronology of the events since the closure of the camps on 31 October. Download the un-imposed (good for reading on a screen) version here and the imposed (good for printing) here . The fold-up poster “Welcome Refugees” is a quick-read info sheet and call to action, on the back of a poster.

The situation of the refugees who have been abandoned by Australia on Manus Island is getting worse by the day. They have been without food, water or medical supplies for 19 days now and many of them are acutely ill. On Saturday, the supposedly safe new camp in Lorengau was invaded by locals, armed with knives and machetes, who turned the electricity generator off. We need to get them here now! The Freedom Shop has put together two resources that can help spread information and raise awareness.   A twelve-page A5 pamphlet titled “The Manus Refugee Crisis – the story so far” provides a bit of background on the Australian detention policy and the history of the Manus camp, before giving a day-by-day chronology of the events since the closure of the camps on 31 October. Download the un-imposed (good for reading on a screen) version here and the imposed (good for printing) here . The fold-up poster “Welcome Refugees” is a quick-read info sheet and call to action, on the back of a poster