AUSTRALIA'S SHAME: ‘THIS IS TORTURE'

NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S STAY AT MELBOURNE’S PARK HOTEL THRUSTS THE PLIGHT OF MORE THAN 1400 PEOPLE INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

- Michael Crooks

Every morning, Mohammad “Joy” Miah rises from his single bed and peers out of the sealed window of his tiny room at Melbourne’s Park Hotel. On the other side of the glass is Carlton’s Lincoln Square park, a view that provides the Bangladeshi refugee glimpses into the everyday lives of passing Australians: men or women on their way to work or the nearby University of Melbourne, people walking dogs and young couples strolling hand in hand.

“Every single morning, I ask myself, ‘What’s the difference between them and me? Why am I here?’” he tells WHO. “I stand behind the window and I wonder when my freedom will come.”

After Australian border officials refused entry to unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic on January 5, and placed him in the Park Hotel, the controversy drew worldwide attention to the plight of more than 30 refugees, including Miah, who are detained there.

Though Djokovic has now been deported (on January 16 the Federal Court upheld a government ruling to refuse him entry), the plight of the detainees – and hundreds more throughout Australia – remains an ongoing reality.

“We’ve been urging the government to release these people,” Sahar Okhovat, a senior policy officer at the Refugee Council of Australia, tells WHO. “People are just sitting idly in their rooms and they can’t access open air. Their mental health is being damaged. It’s difficult to watch.”