Fasher, though, says he has no motive to lie. Quite the reverse; he believes telling his story may harm his chances of being granted permanent refuge in Australia. He is willing to talk to Australian authorities, but none so far has sought to ask him questions. He has also gone further: he has reiterated other allegations, also made early in his return to Indonesia, but which, out of deference to navy denials, the Australian media has not until now reported. On Fashers account, the naval sailors who rotated on to and off the wooden fishing vessel carrying 45 people restricted the passengers access to the toilet from the first day of the operation, January 1. Women were allowed to go once a day, at night time, and the men during the day. A low corridor ran from the cabin where most of the passengers stayed, past the engine room to the rear of the boat where the toilet was located. Fasher demonstrated how he had to stoop to walk down this corridor. Four naval personnel guarded its rear entrance and two guards stationed in the main cabin restricted entry to it from that end. Across the narrow corridor, low to the ground, were three exhaust pipes, running fumes from the engines out the side of the boat to the open air. Passengers had to step over them to get to the toilet. Only one engine was working - the navy fixed it on the third day of the tow-back - so only one exhaust pipe was hot, Fasher said. On that same day, a group of four men were protesting against the toilet strictures. Fasher was the navys go-to man for translation, and was in the main cabin interpreting. As the argument heated up, he says the four asylum seekers forced their way past the two guards in the main cabin to try to get to the toilet. Those guards followed them in, and the guards at the other end also entered the corridor to stop them. There was an altercation, which Fasher said he was watching from outside. During the turmoil he says a young man, Bowby Nooris, the first into the corridor, was sprayed in the eyes with capsicum spray, stumbled and blindly grabbed at the hot pipe. This is consistent with Nooriss injuries, and what he has subsequently told both the ABC and The Australian about how they were incurred. Its the basis of the conclusion by Media Watch that: It appears that the burns occurred in a scuffle with the navy and were not deliberately inflicted by navy personnel. But Fasher insists that, after Nooris fell, naval personnel - he does not know their names - grabbed the wrists of three other men and forced their hands on to the hot pipe, one after the other. He demonstrates how he says it was done. I saw it with my eyes because I was translating . . . They punished three of them, three of them . . . so they would never want to go to the toilet again, Fasher said. Afterwards, he says, a man in navy uniform called him over. They said: Yousif, translate for the people. Say to anyone: if you want to go to the toilet again, we will burn his hands. So, tell them. So I translate for them. Apart from those three and Nooris, Fasher says a fifth person, his own wife, suffered burns. She fell on the pipe after being pushed by a member of a naval boarding party and was burned on her arm. Abdullah Ahmed, from Eritrea, was on the same boat. He admitted he had not seen the incident because he was on the top deck, but the hand-burning story had immediately spread among the passengers. I saw people with burned hands . . . They said: Dont go to the toilet, its punishment . . . from the navy, Ahmed said. Fasher and Ahmed allege that, for the remaining days of the journey, the navy refused medical treatment for the burns, telling people to lie down and drink water. Missing from the story so far is testimony from the three men whose hands were allegedly deliberately burned. Two of them, Nour and Moustafa, refused multiple requests to speak of their experiences. Fasher says they are afraid. Theyre afraid that if they say the truth, maybe Australia will not accept them, maybe they will not be accepted through the UN. Read more: smh.au/federal-politics/political-news/witness-details-burns-claims-20140206-324pw.html#ixzz2saagjneW
Posted on: Thu, 06 Feb 2014 23:53:08 +0000
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