Australia operates ‘immigration prisons’, human rights lawyer tells UN

In closed hearing, lawyer Allison Battison says Australia has a ‘terrifying’ record of detaining people unlawfully for indefinite periods

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An Australian human rights lawyer and a former long-term immigration detainee have given private testimony to the United Nations on Australia’s detention and consular practices, condemning successive governments for “criminalising immigration” and alleging inadequate support for victims of hostage diplomacy.

Lawyer Allison Battison, from charitable law firm Human Rights for All, and former detainee Said Imasi addressed the United Nations Working Group on Arbritrary Detention in Geneva this week, in special closed sessions marking the group’s 30th anniversary.

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