In 2013, when Helal Uddin arrived by boat at Christmas Island seeking protection, he was taken to Manus Island. In 2016, when the PNG Supreme Court ruled that detention on Manus was unconstitutional, those detained there could leave during the day. That year, Helal met Alice, a local Manus woman. They fell in love, and married in 2016.  In 2017, their son, Mohamed Ali, was born.

But in March 2018, Spicy was forcibly deported from PNG to Bangladesh. After his attempt to apply for a visa to return to PNG came to a bureaucratic dead-end, Helal began his return journey from Bangladesh to Manus to be with his family.

By October 2018, Helal had travelled via Malaysia and Indonesia to Manus Island. He lived with his family for five months before being discovered and arrested by immigration officials, in March 2019.

He was jailed in the Bomana Prison, Port Moresby. It took over 12 months to get to court. In April 2020, National Court Judge David Canning ruled that Spicy should be granted residency in Papua New Guinea for three years.

But the PNG government appealed against that decision to the PNG Supreme Court. Spicy waited until October 2020 for the appeal to he heard. The court was due to get the appeal decision in February 2021, but one of the judges died from Covid before the judgement was decided, so another appeal hearing before a full bench was required. 

Spicy waited until November 2021, for a second hearing. He was told at the conclusion of the hearing that he would get a decision before the end of 2021. 

At the time of this petition, Spicy has been in prison almost three years, and has been waiting over three months from the second appeal decision from the Supreme Court. It is a year since he was supposed to get the appeal decision. 

The waiting has taken a huge toll on Spicy and his family. Mohammed has been without his father since March 2019.

Please, Prime Minister Marape, Spicy needs his family, and his family needs him. Three years in prison for wanting to support his PNG family is much too long. Spicy needs compassionate consideration. Please use your good office to take whatever action is needed to speedily release Spicy from Bomana and allow him to live in PNG with his family.