Behrouz Boochani

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Behrouz Boochani in April 2018

Behrouz Boochani (* 23. July 1983 in Ilam , Iran ) is a Kurdish origin journalist , poet, filmmaker and human rights activist , who in 2013 after because of political persecution in Iran Australia tried to escape and since 2013 by the Australian Government in immigration detention on Manus in Papua New Guinea was held. After more than six years of immigration detention, he was able to leave for New Zealand in mid-November 2019.

The boat Boochani attempted to flee on was seized by an Australian warship in international waters and all asylum seekers were taken to internment camps. Boochani defended himself against his imprisonment by writing magazine articles and non-fiction books, recording life in the camp with his smartphone and processing it on film. In this way, information reached the public and human rights organizations around the world. In Germany, the film about life in the camp Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time was shown in March 2018 as part of the Berlin Festival .

Boochanie has received several awards for these activities, including the most important Australian literary prize in January 2019 and another prize for the best non-fiction book in the state of Victoria for his book No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (German: No friend except the mountains: Texts from Manus Prison ). The prizes have a monetary value of around € 80,000.

Early life

Little is known about Boochani's early life. Even as a student, he wrote articles in student magazines and worked as a freelancer with various Iranian magazines. He was a member of the Kurdish Democratic Party , which is banned in Iran, and also a member of the student organization National Union of Kurdish Students . He successfully completed his master’s degree in political science , political geography and geopolitics at Tarbiat Modares University and at Tarbiat Moallem University in Tehran .

After completing his studies, he worked as a journalist for the Kurdish-Iranian literary magazine Werya . In February 2013, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard paramilitary forces entered the magazine's office and arrested 11 people, 6 of whom were detained. Boochani was absent at the time in question, escaped arrest and went into hiding. After three months, he fled Iran because he believed that he would also be arrested.

Escape to Australia

Boochani's escape led him to Indonesia , where he made his first attempt to escape by sea to Australia after a four-month stay. This boat sank. The Indonesian authorities then arrested him and detained him in a detention center. He managed to escape from prison. During its second attempt to escape with another 60 asylum seekers, the Royal Australian Navy brought up the boat on May 23, 2013. He was initially transported and detained in immigration custody at the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Center . The Australian government has been pursuing this rigid and misanthropic policy, known as the Pacific Solution , since 2001 as a result of the so-called Tampa affair . At that time, the Norwegian freighter Tampa had rescued 438 asylum-seeking boat people in distress at sea and wanted to bring them ashore on Australian territory.

In August he was sent to Manus to Manus Regional Processing Center transported. Manus Island is an island in the Pacific Ocean that belongs to the island state of Papua New Guinea . Since 2013, all boat people who try in vain to reach Australia by sea have been deported to internment camps, including the Nauru Regional Processing Center . Like the Manus camp, it is outside the territory of Australia. The conditions in these asylum camps are denounced by doctors and refugee workers as unworthy of human rights. Reports about the conditions in the Manus camp repeatedly reached the public. These include reports of abuse by security personnel, shocking hygienic conditions, lack of food and medical care, and use of physical violence. Some of these reports were written by Behrouz Boochani and thus reached the public worldwide as examples of the controversial migration and asylum policy of Australia . On October 31st, the Manus Internment Camp was closed because the Australian government's operation violated the Constitution of Papua New Guinea. Boochani had not received any travel documents after the camp was closed and therefore had to stay on Manus. He was deported to Lorengau in one of the four new camp complexes . Currently (2019) there are said to be more than 500 inmates in these camps who did not want to or could not leave the country.

Camp life and public relations

While in captivity, the journalist Boochani also became an important witness to Australia's refugee policy in violation of human rights, the best-known asylum seeker in Australia and spokesman for camp inmates on Manus. He has received numerous awards for his public relations and literary work.

Newspaper articles

Boochani also came into contact with renowned newspapers, including The Guardian , Sydney Morning Herald and the Financial Times . He is also in contact with human rights and international writing organizations such as the United Nations , Amnesty International and Pen International .

Movies

In addition to his magazine articles, Boochani also wrote poetry. He starred in a short film called Nowhere Line: Voices of Manus Island in 2015 . In this film, in October 2014 the filmmaker Lukas Cabinet asked two men in the Manus camp in a telephone interview, including Boochani, about the conditions in the Manus internment camp.

Another Chauka film , Please Tell Us the Time , was shot with a smartphone inside the internment camp on Manus and screened at the Sydney Film Festival in 2017 . Boochani helped create this film, which was recorded over several months with a mobile phone. It depicts life in the internment camp. The name Chauka is the name for a bird of paradise that adorns the flag of Papua New Guinea , but which is also used as a symbol for the state of New Guinea. On March 23, 2018, the film was included in the program of the Berliner Festspiele.

Non-fiction

His first work No Friend But the Mountains received not only the most important literary award in Australia on January 31, 2019, but also a prize for the best non-fiction book. Since he is not allowed to leave the island of Manus, he wrote the book in Iranian on his smartphone and had a friend translate the text into English, which he sent from the island of Manus to his publisher online via his smartphone.

Awards

  • Diaspora Symposium Social Justice Award (2016)
  • Amnesty International Australia Media Award (2017)
  • STARTTS Humanitarian Award (2017)
  • Tampa Award (2018)
  • Voltaire Award, Empty Chair Award of the University of Potsdam (2018)
  • Anna-Politkowskaja Award for Journalism (2018)
  • Sir Ronald Wilson Human Rights Award (2018)
  • Victorian Premier's Literary Award (2019)
  • Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction (2019)

Departure to New Zealand

On November 14, 2019, it was announced that Boochani had been able to emigrate to New Zealand after six years of immigration imprisonment in Manus . He has received a one-month visa for New Zealand. Boochani now hopes that the US will accept him, but also keeps other options open. Boochani's departure took place as part of an offer from New Zealand to accept 150 asylum seekers from the Manus and Nauru camps annually since 2013.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Behrouz Boochani, an asylum seeker on Manus Island, wins Australia's top literary prize (English), on South China Morning Post , February 3, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  2. ↑ a b Ben Doherty: Behrouz Boochani, voice of Manus Island refugees, is free in New Zealand , The Guardian. Retrieved November 29, 2019
  3. ↑ a b He is the angry voice of internees in Australia , from February 3, 2019, on Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  4. ↑ a b Arnold Zable: Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani tells of the horrors of Manus Island: out of sight, out of mind (English), from September 21, 2015, on Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved March 10, 2019
  5. ↑ a b Behrouz Boochani , March 2018, at the Berliner Festspiele. Retrieved March 13, 2019
  6. ↑ Erik Tlozek: Manus Island: PNG authorities stop refugees leaving center to give evidence in compensation case (English), on Australian Broadcasting Corporation , September 29, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  7. ^ Sven Hansen: Book written by SMS in 5 years , on TAZ. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  8. ↑ Berouz Boochani (English), at Pan Macmillan, accessed on 11 March 2019
  9. ↑ a b Behrouz Boochani wins Amnesty International award for writing from Manus (English), November 1, 2017, on The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2019
  10. ↑ On Human Rights Day - Take Action for journalist Behrouz Boochani, stranded on Manus Island (English), December 7, 2017, on PEN International. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  11. ↑ Nowhere Lines. Voices of Manus Island , on Internet Movie Database . Retrieved March 10, 2019
  12. ↑ Chauka, please tell us the Time (English), on Vimeo , April 3, 2017
  13. ↑ Erik Tlozek: Iranian refugee's film shot on mobile phone shows life inside Manus Island detention center (English), on Australian Broadcasting Corporation, April 3, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  14. ↑ Chauka, Please Tell Us the Timed , English, on Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 13, 2019
  15. ↑ Kurdish refugee wins Australian literary prize , in AFN German. Retrieved March 10, 2019
  16. ↑ Genevieve Barlow: Miranda: Refugee advocates are winning allies in the bush , April 17, 2018, on The Weekly Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019
  17. ↑ Voltaire Award Dinner 2018 Empty Chair Award Winner , on Liberty Victoria. accessed on March 12, 2019
  18. ↑ Behrouz Boochani wins Anna Politkovskaya award for Manus Iceland writing to The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2019
  19. ↑ Manus Island refugee author Behrouz Boochani arrives in New Zealand , November 14, 2019, on BBC Australia. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Boochani, Behrouz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Journalist, poet, film producer and human rights activist of Kurdish origin
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Ilam , Iran