Christmas Island detainees continue hunger strike

19 Nov 2010, 7:27 am   -   Source: AAP
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The detainees on hunger strike were Iraqis, Iranian Kurds, Palestinians and Algerians, Mr Daoud said. (AAP)

The detainees on hunger strike were Iraqis, Iranian Kurds, Palestinians and Algerians, Mr Daoud said. (AAP)

About 250 people in the Christmas Island detention centre are on hunger strike for a third day and several of them plan to sew their lips together, refugee advocates say.

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About 250 people in the Christmas Island detention centre are on hunger strike for a third day and several of them plan to sew their lips together, refugee advocates say.

Social Justice Network spokesman Jamal Daoud says they declared a hunger strike immediately after they heard about the death of an Iraqi detainee, Ahmad Al Akabi, in Sydney's Villawood detention centre.

"We also learnt that 10 of them are sewing their lips together tomorrow (Friday)," he said in a statement on Thursday night.

"I was contacted by Hasan Muteb, Iraqi journalist and writer who is inside the detention centre for the fifth month now.

"He told me that they declared a hunger strike as protest of the deadly slow process of their application."

Mr Daoud said Mr Muteb had met two Department of Immigration officials on Wednesday but got no explanation for the slow processing.

"As we warned before, it is very clear that things are getting out of hand, where more and more people are hitting the bottom of helplessness and they could commit desperate actions at any time now."

The detainees on hunger strike were Iraqis, Iranian Kurds, Palestinians and Algerians, Mr Daoud said.

About 22 detainees at the Villawood detention centre started eating again on Thursday, two days after they went on a hunger strike following Mr Al Akabi's suicide.

There were chaotic scenes at the centre on Wednesday, sparked by his death on Tuesday.

Mr Al Akabi had been in detention for more than a year.

The centre was put into lockdown after a mattress was set alight and chairs and garbage bins were hurled on to spot fires during the protest.
 

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