Behrouz Boochani spent over six years held by Australia in Papua New Guinea, most of the time in an Australian facility on the remote Manus Island.
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“I just arrived in New Zealand,” he tweeted on Thursday. “So exciting to get freedom after more than six years.”
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Boochani, an Iranian Kurd, attempted to enter Australia by boat in 2013, prompting his indefinite detention as an ‘Irregular Maritime Arrival.’
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Amnesty International said it assisted in securing a 30-day visa for Boochani to enter New Zealand where he will speak at a literary festival.
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According to a statement on WORD Christchurch’s website, Boochani has been given permission to leave Papua New Guinea for the first time and to enter New Zealand.
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In January, Boochani won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Non-Fiction Prize netting him 125,000 Australian dollars (approximately $90,000).
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The award committee referred to the book as a “voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait through five years of incarceration and exile.”
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“Boochani has produced a stunning work of art and critical theory which evades simple description,” the judges’ report read. “At its heart, though, it is a detailed critical study and description of what Boochani terms ‘Manus Prison Theory’… (He) provides a new understanding both of Australia’s actions and of Australia itself.”
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In June, UN human rights officials urged Australia to provide immediate medical aid to more than 800 asylum seekers and migrants being held offshore after a spate of suicide attempts.
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There have been multiple cases of attempted suicide or self-harm on Manus Island, according to claims made by refugees and advocates, including Boochani.
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Human rights monitors such as Amnesty International have reported “hellish” conditions, abuses and neglect.
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