Iraqi facing deportation found dead

A man who has committed suicide in immigration detention was twice rejected for
asylum in Australia and facing deportation back to Iraq, Immigration Minister Chris
Bowen says.
Mr Bowen said it was a very stressful situation for anyone but the process of
assessing asylum claims must remain vigorous and rigorous.
The death of Ahmad Al Eqabi, the second at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre in
two months, has sparked outrage among refugee rights advocates.
Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) spokesman Ian Rintoul said 160 Iraqis, Iranians,
Afghans and Sri Lankans at the Villawood Detention centre in Sydney had launched a
hunger strike.
"They want answers about detention, they want answers about the man's death, they
want answers about their own cases," he said.
However, the Immigration Department denied there was a hunger strike.
Mr Al Eqabi, believed to be aged in his 40s, was found in a shower cubicle about
12.40am (AEDT) on Tuesday, according to witnesses.
An Immigration Department spokesman said staff attempted resuscitation, an ambulance
was called and arrived within minutes, but he was declared dead in Liverpool
Hospital.
"Investigations into the circumstances of the incident are ongoing," the spokesman
said.
"As with any death in detention and subject to NSW police, it is expected the death
will become the subject of a coronial inquest."
Mr Al Eqabi's death follows that of Josefa Rauluni, a 36-year-old Fijian detainee at
Villawood in September.
Mr Bowen said Mr Al Eqabi's application for asylum in Australia had been refused at
the initial assessment and through the Independent Merits Review and that steps had
been under way to return him to Iraq.
He said he understood this was very stressful situation.
"But of course we need to keep our assessment of refugee claims vigorous and
rigorous," he told ABC radio.
"If people come to Australia seeking refugee status and they are not regarded as
genuine refugees, we must and we will take steps to return them to the country from
where they've come."
Social Justice Network spokesman Jamal Daoud said Mr Al Eqabi was suffering
depression and had tried to take his own life several times in the past few months.
"He was rushed to hospital at least six times," he said.
Human rights lawyers, headed by George Newhouse, called for an independent inquiry
into Mr Al Eqabi's death.
Mr Newhouse is acting for more than 25 ex-detainees who are suing the federal
government for damages over their detention.
"It is time for an independent review of the disgusting conditions that we are
keeping vulnerable people in," he said in a statement.
The Australian Greens also on Tuesday renewed demands for an overhaul of immigration
detention.
"What we've seen overnight was a man who was so desperate and so sickened by his
detention that he's taken his own life," Greens immigration spokeswoman Senator
Sarah Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra.