Detention death angers activists

The second suicide within two months at an immigration detention centre has highlighted the mental anguish caused by Australia's policy of locking up asylum-seekers, refugee advocates said yesterday.

An Iraqi man, 41-year-old Ahmad al-Akabi, was found "not breathing" in a bathroom at the Villawood centre in Sydney early yesterday, and was taken to hopsital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to fellow detainees, his asylum application had been rejected twice in the past year, and his efforts to be sent home had also proved fruitless.

Al-Akabi's death came two months after a Fijian man, Josefa Rauluni, killed himself by leaping off the roof at Villawood. That incident sparked rooftop protests, and yesterday there were reports that detainees had begun a hunger strike, although the Immigration Department said it was not aware of people refusing to eat.

According to refugee support groups, Al-Akabi arrived in Australia by boat last year and was detained on Christmas Island before being transferred to Sydney. He had a wife and several children back home, and "all of his family put hope on him to get a visa to help them get out from Iraq", another detainee told the Sydney Morning Herald's website.

As protesters gathered outside Villawood, human rights lawyers and refugee advocates condemned the long-standing policy of mandatorily detaining "boatpeople". Ian Rintoul, of the Refugee Action Coalition, said in a statement: "The factories of mental illness have claimed yet another victim. Incidents of self-harm are becoming daily occurrences at detention centres across the country."

The Immigration Department said a coronial inquiry would be held into Al-Akabi's death, and counsellors were being sent to Villawood to support detainees and staff.

In September, Iranian and Kurdish asylum-seekers staged a 12-day hunger strike at the centre.