Australia Refuses Visa to Young Mentally Ill Asylum Seeker

Qadir Fedayee is an asylum seeker from Afghanistan.

He is a "very sick young man" – in the words of Dr Andrew Czechowicz, a well-known psychiatrist in Adelaide.

Qadir is 19 years old.

His parents and much of his immediate family were either killed by the Taliban or are missing and presumed dead.

Qadir came to Australia as an "asylum seeking boat person" and like so many others he was treated with suspicion and detained in Woomera for a long period.

He watched as his young friends got Temporary Protection Visas and he was left alone.

He became very depressed and attempted suicide on a number of occasions. His behaviour became very disoriented.

Refugees who came on the same boat to Australia as Qadir have stated that he was not suffering from this problem before going to Woomera.

Authorities eventually transferred Qadir to Glenside Hospital in Adelaide. Whilst there he was diagnosed as having a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He suffers regular "dissociative episodes" during which he looses all touch with reality and cannot communicate rationally. He laughs or cries, speaks irrationally and has even had seizures. Sometimes he screams about the Taliban and kicks his legs and waves his arms. At other times he has visual hallucinations about being back in the Woomera Detention Centre or the medical centre there.

Qadir has never been recognised as a legitimate refugee.

He has appealed to the Refugee Review Tribunal and to the Federal Court. All his attempts have failed.

Most recently he has appealed to the Minister for Immigration, Hon Philip Ruddock. Mr Ruddock has discretionary power under the Migration Act. Mr Ruddock has also refused the application.

Qadir is now very unwell – having been hospitalized again because of his traumatic reaction to Mr Ruddock's decision to refuse his most recent application.

At this moment no one is really sure what the future holds for this sick young man.

The website www.acc.asn.au/Qadir.htm gives further details and a copy of his psychiatric repo.rt




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