Inquest to examine Manus Island Sudanese refugee death
A Brisbane inquest into the death of a Sudanese refugee airlifted to Australia after collapsing and injuring his head in an offshore detention centre is set to shed light on conditions that led to his death.
Faysal Ishak Ahmed, a 27-year-old asylum-seeker who fled war in Sudan, was detained by the Australian government in the now-shuttered offshore detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea for three years.
In December 2016, Faysal repeatedly asked for medical attention before he eventually collapsed and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Only then was he evacuated to a Brisbane hospital where he was removed from life support and died on December 24.
Mr Ahmed often spoke to health professionals about complaints like gastric symptoms, kidney pain, chronic sinusitis, mental health issues and chest pain.
State Coroner Terry Ryan is examining circumstances surrounding his death and the standard of his treatment throughout 2016 as his medical conditions worsened.
It is one of a handful of inquests following previous ones into the deaths of Iranian asylum-seekers Omid Masoumali and Hamid Khazaei, both of which found deficiencies in the medical care provided to people detained offshore by the Australian government.
Mr Ahmed’s lawyers from the National Justice Project say scrutiny of conditions inside Australian-run offshore detention centres is crucial.
“Faysal’s tragic death puts a human face to the suffering of people held on Manus Island,” said the project’s principal solicitor Ashleigh Buckett.
“We hope that this inquest provides answers for Faysal’s family, who have waited for many years for the truth about his death.”
“The Australian government has a responsibility to protect and provide adequate care to refugees that it holds in immigration detention. We need transparency and accountability.”
Farhad Bandesh, a Kurdish artist and former detainee on Manus Island who knew Mr Ahmed, described him as “a gentle young man who would still be alive if he had been treated with the respect and care we deserve as human beings”.
“The camps on Manus and Nauru were designed to dehumanise us and to strip our lives of all hope and meaning,” said Mr Bandesh.
“Every single person detained on Manus and Nauru is a victim of these atrocities and deserves justice, as Faysal does.”
