Stitched lips 'shocked' Australians

By Brady Haran
BBC News Online

Woomera was the site of heated protests

The sight of an asylum seeker in Nottingham stitching his lips together has shocked many people in the UK.

But the act is nothing new in Australia, where the asylum issue has been one of the hottest topics in politics for nearly two years.

During some of the fiercest protests, journalist Michael Duffy was based at the Woomera Detention Centre in the South Australian outback.

He recalls: "Self-mutilation was commonplace among asylum seekers detained at the Woomera Detention Centre.

"At various times detainees drank shampoo and detergent, threw themselves on razor wire, cut themselves and at one point a large number stitched their lips.

ON THE SCENE

No-one enjoys seeing an image of a fellow human who has inflicted self-harm

Journalist Michael Duffy

The Woomera protests

"In some cases, parents stitched the lips of their young children as part of the protest which shocked many Australians, but failed to move the Australian Government."

More than 40 Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers stitched their lips in response to being denied asylum by the Australian Government.

Mr Duffy says: "The lip-stitching crisis shocked many Australians and was indicative of a cultural difference in approaches to protest action, but also the hopelessness those seeking asylum often feel.

"They used lip-stitching because it was symbolic of their lack of voice and because it is shocking.

"Hunger strikes were slipping further and further back in the news pages... stitched lips vaulted them back to the front.

"No-one enjoys seeing an image of a fellow human who has inflicted self-harm.

ACT OF PROTEST

Read about Abas Amini

"Many asylum seekers from the Gulf region have learnt a style of fervent protest unfamiliar in the western world."

Mr Duffy says while many protesters are genuine, he cautioned that some have become "masters of media manipulation".

He says: "At Woomera there were cases of hunger strikes involving hundreds of asylum seekers, yet there were often cases of people leaving the strike for lunch before returning to the fast."

In Nottingham this week it emerged political poet Abas Amini, 33, has been on hunger strike for a week.

The Iranian Kurdish man was granted asylum two months ago but his protest was triggered by a Home Office decision this week to appeal.

Doctors warn he could die within days.

Mr Duffy now works in England as chief reporter with south Essex daily newspaper The Evening Echo.