Thirty-one-year-old Helal Uddin reached Australia's Christmas Island in 2013 from a small village in Bangladesh.
A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then; from imprisonment, love, marriage, the birth of his child, to deaths and deportation.
Timeline
- 2013: Helal arrived at Australia's Christmas Island as an asylum seeker
- 2016: Released after two-and-a-half years from Manus Island Detention Centre, fell in love with local woman Alice Michael
- 2017: Married in March, son Mohammad Ali born weeks later
- 2018: Arrested and deported to Bangladesh in March, alone. Denied PNG visa, returned to Manus Island by boat in November
- 2019: Arrested again in March
- 2020: Transferred to Bomana Prison on Manus Island, released in April for 10 days, imprisoned again, told in December to await Supreme Court appeal decision in February 2021
- 2021: Decision still awaited
In a media release issued on 1 March, refugee advocate Ian Rintoul from Refugee Action Coalition said Helal’s only crime is that he wants to support his wife and son on Manus Island.
The statement reads, “Helal’s freedom and the future of his family rest on an appeal decision by the PNG Supreme Court, which was due to be handed down in February 2021. But no decision has been handed down. Helal had married a local Manusian woman in 2016 while he was being held in the Manus Detention Centre. His son, Mohammad, was born 19 March 2017.”
Speaking to SBS Bangla, Mr Rintoul said, "it is shocking that Helal has had to wait so long for, first for his trial and now for the appeal decision. His freedom and the future of his family rest on the Supreme Court decision. The appeal decision must be handed down urgently."
Adding that Helal should never have been jailed, Mr Rintoul questions the premise of his imprisonment.
"All he has ever wanted is, to be with and support his family in PNG. For that, he has been in jail for two years," says Mr Rintoul.
Iranian asylum seekers who were caught in Indonesian waters while sailing to Australia sit on a boat at Benoa port in Bali, Indonesia. May 12, 2013 Source: AAP Image/AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati
The Refugee Action Coalition media release adds, “he was separated from his wife and son when he was deported to Bangladesh in early 2018. After trying to get a visa from the PNG embassy to return to Manus Island, Helal returned by boat to Manus Island in November 2018, to live with, and support, his wife and son.”
Justifying Helal's decision, the media statement says that Helal has been waiting too long, needs a decision and that "he felt he had no alternative but to hunger strike.”
