Sarah Stephen

  • Baktiyari boys: 'What is our crime?'

    Twelve-year-old Montazar Baktiyari and 14-year-old Alamdar Baktiyari have put faces to the horrifying reality of children in detention. After asylum seekers have been dehumanised as "illegals" and "queue-jumpers" for so long, the

  • Ruddock's dirty tricks exposed

    On July 19, immigration minister Philip Ruddock announced that in April his department had informed Ali Baktiyari, father of two boys who sought asylum on July 18 from a British consulate, that it intended to cancel his visa.

  • Media complicity in detention policy

    Immigration department guidelines for journalists visiting immigartion detention centres state that they "may not interview any person who is detained under Australia's immigration law" and "will not photograph/film people in

  • Outrage as Baktiyari boys jailed again

    The forced return of Alamdar and Montazar Baktiyari to the Woomera immigration prison — which dramatically unfolded on news telecasts on July 18 — has horrified millions of people across Australia and the world. It was a

  • SIEV-X: the warning that could have saved lives

    On July 11, more evidence about the October 19 sinking of the boat SIEV-X (which stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel — unknown) was presented to the Senate committee investigating the incident. The evidence strengthens

  • Afghan refugees: 'Don't send us back to war!'

    "Four teenage boys are crouched in front of the TV, watching, listening, hanging on the words of the BBC reporter who is describing the carnage when US jets bombed a wedding party celebration in central Afghanistan... A slight boy,

  • Woomera hunger-strikers taunted

    The information available from the hunger strikers in Woomera detention centre, whose protest passed the two-week mark on July 7, is heart-rending. The July 5 Canberra Times spoke by telephone to Ramzi, who said "We are very weak

  • Woomera detainees: 'Freedom for all!'

    BY PIP HINMAN& SARAH STEPHEN On June 23, the same day that 13,000 people took to the streets across Australia to oppose the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, detainees at the Woomera detention centre began a hunger strike. By June 24, 180-190

  • Nauru despair documented

    Nauru despair documentedIn early June, BBC reporter Sarah Macdonald and Australian refugee supporter Kate Durham secretly filmed the conditions under which of asylum seekers are being held on Nauru. The footage will be

  • Fortress Europe takes steps to bar refugees, migrants

    The European Union faces an ironic contradiction in coming decades. As birth rates continue to decline, many countries face negative population growth. The EU needs more immigration. Yet the European Council's June 21-22 meeting in