{"id":1034,"date":"2015-10-21T14:36:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T14:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2015-10-25T14:51:55","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T14:51:55","slug":"afghan-asylum-seeker-feared-dead-after-self-immolation-during-video-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1034","title":{"rendered":"Afghan asylum seeker feared dead after self-immolation during video call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1035\" src=\"http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call-300x180.png\" alt=\"dead call\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call-300x180.png 300w, http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>An Afghan asylum seeker living in Australia on a bridging visa is feared dead after he self-immolated during a video call with refugee advocates.<\/p>\n<p>Khodayar Amini, a Hazara Afghan aged 30, told staff at the Refugee Rights Action Network his fear of being sent back to detention, combined with his uncertain visa status and the threat of being returned to <span style=\"color: #005689;\">Afghanistan<\/span>, was \u201ckilling him\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At about 11.30am on Sunday, Amini made a video call to advocates Sarah Ross and Michelle Bui, and told them he feared he would be returned to detention because police and immigration department staff wanted to interview him.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/static\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2014\/9\/4\/1409815596008\/Masked-Taliban-militants--010.jpg?w=460&amp;q=85&amp;auto=format&amp;sharp=10&amp;s=c234cd7a9f0f1a4f3a6d13f154a87e48\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\">\n<h1 class=\"rich-link__title\"><a class=\"rich-link__link\"><span style=\"color: #005689;\">Afghan Hazara asylum seekers to be forcibly deported from Australia<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__standfirst u-cf\">Refugee advocates say men would be at risk of persecution after two Hazaras with links to Australia were attacked by Taliban<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__arrow\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Amini, who was believed to be living in the eastern states, then threatened to take his own life before self-immolating on camera. During the call, he urged Ross and Bui to go to the media to share his plight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe tried to talk him out of it, I have received suicide intervention training so I used that,\u201d Ross told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had been released from the Yongah Hill detention centre in Western Australia on a bridging visa, but he said immigration and police were looking for him, so he had been living out of his car and hiding in bushland.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had previously told us that most of his family had been killed by the <a class=\" u-underline\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/taliban\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\"><span style=\"color: #005689;\">Taliban<\/span><\/a> in Afghanistan, and he was uncertain about his future and scared of going back to detention or being sent to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told us it was killing him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ross said she immediately called emergency services, and that the phone call with Amini cut-out. She and Bui later received a call from police, who told them a body that seemed to match Amini\u2019s description had been found in Victorian bushland in Dandenong.<\/p>\n<p>Police told them they could not confirm the body was Amini\u2019s, and a coronial inquest would be carried out.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman from Victoria police confirmed to Guardian Australia emergency services had responded to a grass fire in Dandenong on Sunday. Once the fire was extinguished, a body was found, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 2\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-feature--item \">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__image-container u-responsive-ratio\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/static\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2014\/6\/5\/1401929684345\/Leo-Seemanpillai-015.jpg?w=460&amp;q=85&amp;auto=format&amp;sharp=10&amp;s=20413ba02497d0c8779d69ea50f7de3b\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\">\n<h1 class=\"rich-link__title\"><a class=\"rich-link__link\"><span style=\"color: #005689;\">The life and awful death of a Tamil asylum seeker in Australia<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__standfirst u-cf\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Thread-00002040-Id-0000002e;\">Special report:<\/span><\/b> Leo Seemanpillai was a hardworking 29-year-old plagued by the uncertainty of life in visa limbo, say friends<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__arrow\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe death is not being treated as suspicious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The night before receiving Amini\u2019s call, Bui received a message from him that read: \u201cMy crime was that I was a refugee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey [immigration] tortured me for 37 months and during all these times, they treated me in the most cruel and inhumane way, they violated my basic human right and took away my human dignity,\u201d Amini wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ask you to stand up for the rights of refugees and stop people being killed just because they have become refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amini had no known family members in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Guardian Australia has contacted the office of the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Source: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Afghan asylum seeker living in Australia on a bridging visa is feared dead after&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[5,9,6,33],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call-300x180.png",300,180,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"enternews-featured":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"enternews-medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",620,372,false],"enternews-thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dead-call.png",480,288,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a 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