Australia's razor wire romance

Australia's asylum policies have drawn widespread criticism

The last person a refugee in one of Australia's notorious detention centres might be expected to fall in love with is his camp guard.

But that is exactly what happened to an Iranian refugee and his detention officer, and their story is being told in a new play at Sydney's Opera House.

Through the Wire by Ros Horin traces the ordeals of Shahin Shafaei and three other former refugees in Australia.

Australia's tough asylum policies have met with international condemnation.

Shafaei, a 30-year-old playwright and actor who fled Iran when the authorities banned his work, plays himself in the drama.

He said that he fled to Australia in 2000 when a friend who put on his work was reported and arrested.

The boat he was travelling on from Indonesia was intercepted and all those without documentation taken to Curtin detention centre in western Australia.

There he met a camp guard called Gabrielle Schultz who later became a counsellor at the centre.

"We began talking every day and when she was not around my friends could see how sad I was," he told the French news agency AFP.

But the pair had to keep their romance a secret. When Shafaei was released in February 2002 Ms Schultz resigned her job and the couple moved in together.

However, their relationship is still overshadowed by Shafaei's legal status.

He is living on a three-year temporary visa which expires next February.

Shafaei said he hoped the play would bring the asylum issue to life for Australia's public.

"It puts a human face on this issue that people have only read about. It shows that this policy, which is happening in the Australian people's name, is inhumane."