The Hon Scott Morrison MP Minister for Immigration and Border Protection : Full inquiry into death of Ali detained in Villawood Detention Centre

On June 20th Ali Ahmad Jafari, an asylum seeker detained at Villawood Detention Centre died after his calls of distress were ignored by security guards for up to an hour.

Asylum seekers should not be dying in custody. Calls of medical distress should not be ignored by guards. Everything humanly possible should be done by staff to prevent such tragedies.

A media release by the Refugee Action Coalition Sydney states the following:

"According to witnesses inside the detention centre, Serco guards left Ali on the ground for almost an hour before calling an ambulance.

He was taken from the centre around 7.30pm and died later that night.

“There is every reason to believe that Ali would still be alive, if Serco guards had responded immediately to the first signs that he was in distress,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition."

I echo calls by The Refugee Action Coalition and demand a full inquiry into Ali’s death and the allegations that he was left unattended. As stated by the Coalition if Ali’s obvious medical distress was ignored, 'his death is a version of industrial manslaughter, or worse.'