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=> Refugee never lost hope

Refugee never lost hope
Posted by Tiglath (Guest) davidchibo@hotmail.com - Monday, November 24 2003, 4:46:25 (EST)
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Refugee never lost hope
Mark Phillips
24nov03

AN Iranian refugee has new hope of living permanently in Australia after an 11-year ordeal.

Vilperit Betkhoshabeh has been living quietly in suburban Melbourne since former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock approved his release from the Maribyrnong detention centre in July.
Until his release Mr Betkhoshabeh had spent just 18 months of 11 years in Australia as a free man.

Mr Betkhoshabeh, 42, who has a mental illness, has been released into home detention with his brother in Tullamarine.

Although there are restrictions, Mr Betkhoshabeh said his conditions were a vast improvement on life in detention.

"After 10 years, of course I am happy," he said.

"Always I hope that one day I would be released. I never lost hope."

His family and supporters hope that now Mr Betkhoshabeh has proven he is not a threat they can persuade the Government to rescind a decision to deport him.

His release came after a finding by the United Nations Human Rights Committee that he should be freed and compensated for "cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment".

In total, Mr Betkhoshabeh spent more than nine years behind bars after arriving in Australia on a one-way ticket in the middle of 1992.

An Assyrian Christian, he claimed he faced arrest, torture and possibly even execution if he returned to Iran.

Mr Betkhoshabeh was placed in custody but was granted a refugee protection visa and permanent residency in 1995.

But it was revoked in 1997 because he was a jailed for 18 months for burglary and making threats to kill. The offences were caused by his paranoid schizophrenia.

After finishing his release Mr Betkhoshabeh was placed in detention.



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