Fed: Immigration dept to look into Palestinian's death

AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2008
Fed: Immigration dept to look into Palestinian's death

CANBERRA, Aug 2 AAP - The Immigration Department is to investigate the reported death
of a Palestinian refugee previously denied a visa to stay in Australia.

But a department spokesman said today it could not be responsible for every deportee
who had spent time in Australia.

Akram Al Masri was killed two days ago in the Gaza Strip, refugee advocates say.

The Federal Court in 2002 ordered Akram Al Masri be released from immigration detention,
ruling the federal government did not have the right to detain him ahead of his deportation,
despite his having been denied a temporary protection visa.

He left Australia a short time later.

At the time, Mr Al Masri said he feared for his life if forced to return to Israel.

Even so, he said he would rather be returned home than go back to the detention centre.

"We are sad to hear of the apparent death of this gentleman, Mr Al Masri, and we extend
our condolences to his family," the Immigration spokesman told AAP.

"I say that because we have not completely established the circumstances or the facts
of what's happened here.

"The death of a father and husband is a tragedy for all those people who are left behind.

"However, we emphasise the fact that even if the person has spent some time in Australia,
this does not mean that Australia is responsible for all events that may befall them in
the future."

He said people could face generalised dangers, hardships and uncertainty to varying
degrees in different countries.

"However, we are not going to discuss this in further detail until we have properly
investigated all the facts, which we will conduct as soon as possible," the spokesman
said.

AAP dep/it/de

KEYWORD: ALMASRI

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.