Manus Detention Center

The asylum detainee who shot a film in secret

Behrouz Boochani is messaging me on WhatsApp from Australia's offshore detention facility in Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he has been since 2013 after fleeing his home country of Iran.

The Kurdish journalist has just finished his biggest project yet - a full-length feature film, shot using his iPhone and smuggled out over the internet in small clips, beneath the radar of his guards.

Refugee court challenge to be streamed live on Manus Island

Lawyers representing the asylum seekers say it is the first time Australian court proceedings will be steamed live overseas.

They say the case, to begin in May and run for six or seven months, will be the largest and most forensic public examination of events and conditions at the Manus Island detention centre.

In the ruling, handed down on Friday, Justice Michael McDonald found that it was appropriate to make the live streaming order to ensure that justice was done in the proceeding.

Refugees to be left in PNG when Manus closes

Mr Dutton's comments come in the wake of Prime Minister Turnbull confirming that the centre will close before the end of the year.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Dutton said the government had been clear about the future of legitimate refugees from the start.

'Given that PNG is a signitory to the convention and to the protocols, they have responsibility to settle those people,' Mr Dutton said.

Detainees join Namah’s Supreme Court case

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia yesterday afternoon granted the joinder of all asylum seekers who are parties to two proceedings currently before the Supreme Court.  

Although the orders issued yesterday cover those who are part of the cases as parties, the case filed by Namah covers over 900 transferees who were brought to PNG against their will to be processed in Manus. 

Lawyer representing 300 of those asylum seekers, who are part of the two court cases, was in court yesterday when the orders were granted.

Supreme Court rules detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island is illegal

The five-man bench of the court ruled the detention breached the right to personal liberty in the PNG constitution.

There are 850 men in the detention centre on Manus Island, about half of whom have been found to be refugees.

The Supreme Court has ordered the PNG and Australian Governments to immediately take steps to end the detention of asylum seekers in PNG.

The centre operators and PNG's immigration authorities have recently been trying to move refugees out of detention and into a so-called transit centre.