Dear Petitioners, Thank you for your support for Behnam. He is still on Manus Island, his health continues to deteriorate and he lives with constant threats to his life. The response to the petition has, however, been very encouraging, and we now have over 18,000 signatures. I have just heard that the Petitions Office in Parliament House in Canberra has accepted the petition and so the petition will be formally tabled in Parliament on 11 February by the Honorable Melissa Parke, MP. A huge thank you to Ms Parke. It will help strengthen the impact of the petition if you are able to write to or email your local Member of Parliament and ask them to speak in support of the petition some time next week. If you don’t know your local Member’s contact details please go to this link: http://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/members They may not know about what has happened on Manus Island, so please tell them that Behnam Satah is the principal witness against the guards accused of the murder of Reza Barati. For a year he has lived with death threats and the accused have told him directly that they can kill him at any time. He was imprisoned after a hunger strike a year ago and then beaten in jail. As a result of all this he now has post-traumatic stress disorder and the symptoms include unrelenting, excruciating chest pain and sleep disorders. He gets pain killers, but this has not helped and his health is deteriorating. In the petition we are calling for Behnam to be brought to Australia and settled in the community. As long as he is in Manus Island or in detention he will continue to be retraumatised and will not be able to recover. He is a witness in a criminal trial and witnesses deserve protection. You can read more here: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/guards-accused-of-building-tensions-on-manus-20160201-gmj0z3.html Please also Like the Justice for Behnam page on Facebook. To know something of the feeling of those imprisoned on Manus Island after the shock news this week of the High Court’s finding in favour of the government, see this article by imprisoned Kurdish journalist, Behrouz Boochani, published today in the Age. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/high-court-ruling-silence-falls-as-manus-island-detainees-hopes-for-justice-dashed-20160205-gmmerg.html One of the most painful things that I hear from many imprisoned on Manus is the belief that things won’t change. Change will come, but we all have a role to play in bringing change about. Please contact your local Member of Parliament and ask him or her to support the petition and bring Behnam to Australia. We also need to close all offshore detention centres and treat refugees with dignity and respect. With thanks, Dr Diana Cousens