Erin Handley

 

There was sky and there was water, nothing else but the wavering cries. Abdullah, a Syrian refugee, lets the ash gather on the end of his cigarette as he recalls the five days he spent on a fishing boat on the vast Indian Ocean.

 

“It was very, very dangerous,” he says. He expected to die. Abdullah, who asks to be referred to only by his first name, is the latest refugee from the island detention centre on Nauru to arrive in Cambodia under Australia’s controversial multi-million dollar resettlement deal.

 

His quest to secure safety for himself and his family has spanned almost four years. But it was those five days on the boat – just a speck on the sprawling map of his journey – that cost him his freedom. Abdullah’s detention was part of an Australian government deterrence scheme that has been roundly condemned as “cruel” and akin to torture.

 

LONG AND EXCELLENT ARTICLE TO BE READ HERE http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/syrian-refugee-fled-war-sea-unlikely-home-cambodia

 

 

-- © Copyright Phenom Pen Post 25/11

" Abdullah, who asks to be referred to only by his first name " and wishes his name was Mohammed....

5 hours ago, bangon04 said:

" Abdullah, who asks to be referred to only by his first name " and wishes his name was Mohammed....

Maybe they meant spread war, not fled? And since when was free room and board akin to torture? Where do they come up with this crap? Australia seems to be the only nation with balls on this issue.