Former Manus Island detainee Benham Satah has vowed to continue campaigning for justice for his murdered friend Reza Barati. Photo / Supplied
By Lydia Lewis of RNZ
Warning: Distressing content
The roommate of a refugee bludgeoned to death by guards and other contractors in an Australian-run detention centre nine years ago is continuing his fight for justice.
“How could you beat a refugee who is lying on the ground?” said Benham Satah, who witnessed 24-year-old Reza Barati’s murder on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
“And you see that blood is coming out of his head, blood showering from his face.”
Satah, a Kurdish Iranian, travelled from Indonesia to Australia hoping for a better life. He ended up on Christmas Island before being “forcibly taken” to Manus, where he was held for 6½ years.
He met Barati, who was also Kurdish-Iranian, in Indonesia when they were in the same hiding spot.
“He was such a nice guy, like a giant person with a very beautiful heart,” Satah said.
He recounted the horror of watching his friend’s murder.
In February 2014, tension was high on Manus Island. Over the course of three days, the detention centre was stormed and there were riots.
One man’s throat was slit and another man was shot, according to witnesses.
Satah remembered seeing about 200 people injured and about 70 receiving treatment.
He said 15 guards, including Australians and New Zealanders, were involved in attacking Barati before he died.
Barati was tortured, beaten with a plank lined with nails, kicked repeatedly in the head while he was on the ground by men in boots, and then a rock was dropped on his head.
The Australian government has finally recognised the suffering and misery inflicted on Barati’s family and reached a confidential settlement, according to the family’s lawyer.
“There were no findings against any of the parties involved,” Jennifer Kanis, principal lawyer and head of the social justice practice at Maurice Blackburn, said.
“However, in this case, there have been numerous inquiries and it’s pretty clear what occurred on Manus Island that evening.”
However, Satah, who now lives in France, is not happy that the result is being kept confidential.
He was overwhelmed at the thought that those he saw beating Barati remained free.
The refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island at the time had arrived in Australian waters by boat. Instead of finding safety they were detained, many for almost a decade.
“They [the Australian government] don’t care,” Satah said. “They are the people who are supposed to care, who are supposed to make decisions. They don’t care.”
The process, he said, reflected the “horrific reality of Australian racism”.
While Australia struck a deal with the PNG government to wipe its hands clean of the remaining refugees, about 70, including those injured in the 2014 riots, were moved to Port Moresby.
One man was so traumatised he stayed in his room and was not fit to go through the resettlement process, Satah said.
Satah held no hate towards New Zealand but wanted the Government to find the New Zealanders involved in Barati’s murder and hold them accountable.
“Bring these people to the court and ask them if you’re a New Zealander, how did you contribute to a murder that Australia wanted you to do?”
Two Papua New Guineans were sentenced in connection with the killing, but Refugee Action Coalition’s Ian Rintoul says they were scapegoats.
There was a “lack of political will” to follow up the allegations made against the other guards, he said.
Satah said compensation was needed, even though no amount of money would bring back his friend, heal the mental distress inflicted on the other refugees and asylum seekers on Manus, or solve the physical issues.
He would not allow the world to forget the refugees who continued to suffer from the harm inflicted at Australian-run detention centres, he said.
Barati’s grieving mother, in Iran’s Kurdistan region, said she was glad to see the end of the case against the Australian government and security firm G4S.
The confidential settlement was reached instead of taking the case to the Supreme Court in Victoria.
Kanis was pleased Barati’s family had “won a measure of justice”.
She said his parents still felt the pain of their son’s death and his absence daily.
“Their son came to Australia seeking safety. And he was then murdered in a detention centre where he should have been safe.
“They know that nothing will bring their son back or lessen the pain of his loss.
“They’re satisfied that they have fought for some justice for their son and are relieved that they can now try and move on with their lives.”
Rintoul said the settlement was a small step forward but would never heal the gaping hole left after Barati’s murder. It brought a little closure and a little recognition for all the suffering and misery.
“We’re continuing to campaign in Australia for the Australian government to bring all those people in Papua New Guinea to Australia where they should have been allowed to stay.”
RNZ Pacific contacted both the New Zealand and Australian governments for comment.
New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has sent the request to the Official Information Act request department.
A spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs Department said: “The department does not comment on the details of confidential legal settlements.”
-RNZ