After six years in detention on Manus Island, Kurdish-Iranian Kazem Kazemi was transferred to Brisbane as part of the in mid-2019.
He is among 80 asylum seekers and refugees being holed up under constant guard at Brisbane's Kangaroo Point Central Hotel, in what Australia's border authorities consider an alternative place of detention (APOD).
Kazemi told SBS Kurdish that in Brisbane, he still considered himself very much in detention despite the transfer for medical treatment. He said that he can either stay in his hotel room or go to the Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation (BITA), where he’s permitted to use the gym facilities.
"The condition is worse [at BITA]. Just seeing the fences there, we have a bad trauma due to those fences because we had them back on Manus Island as well," he said.
"It is much better in this hotel, because, you see life and it is a room, and I can be in a normal room living by myself. I am a little bit happier about that, but actually none of us are happy to be in detention.”
Kazemi hails from the city of Ilam in the Kurdistan Region of western Iran.
His journey for a better life in Australia began in 2013 when he fled discrimination and persecution directed at him by the Iranian regime.
The boat he was traveling on was intercepted by Australian authorities before those aboard were transferred to Christmas Island and then to Manus Island.
As months became years in detention, he coped with his surroundings by playing his electric guitar in the laundry room of the facility and posting videos of his sessions on Instagram.
He said it was this "release" that helped him get through and "survive" years in detention.
Kazem Kazemi Source: SBS Kurdish
“I was a lover of heavy metal music when I was in my country, and ever since I was a young teenager I have been interested in heavy metal music, and until now I still have that passion.
“I could not get through that [detention] without music, because they were bad conditions, not only for me but for the other people that were stuck, like me.
“Sometimes I had a very hard time, lots of thoughts about my future, about my family, and the only way that I could be strong and forget about the conditions, [was] by playing heavy metal.”
However, he said his mental health took a hit when authorities on Manus confiscated his electric guitar and amp. He said it was only when he made several requests that he received a nylon guitar from the recreation room.
“My main problem is my mental issues, and since I came to Australia, they haven’t done anything for me. If someone has mental problems it is natural, because we are still in detention.
“I came to Australia because of my problems, because of the Medevac bill, it was a chance for someone like me to get out of that limbo [and receive] treatment.”
The Australian Border Force did not confirm to SBS Kurdish whether Kazemi was at the Brisbane hotel.
"Decisions about the most appropriate immigration detention accommodation are determined on a case-by-case basis and involve consideration of the safety and security of detainees, service providers, visitors, and staff. In making placement decisions, medical needs are given priority, and family and community links are carefully considered," an ABF spokesperson said.
"Where appropriate, detainees may be accommodated in hotel/apartment-style alternative places of detention (APOD) accommodation rather than inside an immigration detention facility.
"The ABF and its contracted service providers have procedures in place to ensure the safety, security, and welfare of all detainees at APODs and immigration detention facilities."
A friendship formed worlds apart
It was through the Instagram videos that Australian musician Harry Phillips first got to know the asylum seeker.
The pair began exchanging messages via social media and soon became friends.
Phillips said when he first heard his friend’s back story he thought, “man this is the most rock-and-roll heavy metal story I have ever heard”.
“Music is so often supposed to be about expressing your soul and about standing up for what’s right, and it’s about protesting against what’s wrong that has been done by the government and I just thought that Kazem’s story ticked all of those boxes," Phillips said.
"I was really inspired by his story, and I thought it was so sad.”
Phillips said they were planning to collaborate together to produce music until Kazemi’s electric guitar was confiscated.
“We were starting to collaborate on a song, and then he got his guitar taken off him, then his mental health got really bad, unfortunately,” he recalled.
The duo lost contact until about four months ago when Phillips tracked him down through the Refugee Action Collective and realised that his friend was, in fact, in his hometown of Brisbane.
Phillips recalled the "surreal" moment he met his friend for the first time.
"To actually be in the same room, we gave each other a big hug, and before you know it, we were playing songs together."
‘We’re just jamming it out’
Phillips visits his friend on a regular basis for the allotted 45-minute-period, a process that needs to be booked five days in advance.
During their visits, Phillips said he tries to give his friend as much support as possible to "take his mind off his current situation".
"The biggest way that I can give support is that we just hang out and jam and we don't talk too much about where he's been, and we don't talk too much about the things that are getting him down.
"Sometimes we have phone calls about that kind of stuff, but when we're there, we're just jamming it out."
Kazemi said thinking about a possible future move was "really hard" especially as he attempts to gain his freedom.
"It is really hard if I talk about the future, an unknown future. I've been detained in a hotel and I don't know what's going to happen to me. Three months ago, I got declined [by] the minister to go into the community, and they might do the same again and reject me.
“I feel like they won't let me go, and I just want to be strong and think positive. I don't know when I can get out of this condition."
The Border Force spokesperson said: "Once transferees no longer need to be in Australia for the temporary purpose for which they were brought (medical treatment), they are expected to return to a regional processing country."
Philips said he finds inspiration from the refugees and asylum seekers he's met.
"My hope for those guys, and particularly the ones I have spoken to, including Kazem and Behrouz Boochani, they have a great strength of will, and they have real determination, which leads to being refugees in the first place. I think that they were willing to take that chance and try and get to freedom.
"The thing that gives me the biggest amount of hope is that everybody who hears their story and then meets them, and the more the people found out about it, it's almost like a 100 percent of people are really sympathetic and really want to help them out."
Kazemi is very thankful for the friendship with Phillips and said he wished “the really nice man" the best for the future.
To listen to the full interview with Harry Phillips click the link below:
LISTEN TO
A Kurdish refugee and a Brisbane musician form friendship worlds apart
SBS Kurdish
16/02/202009:37
Listen to SBS Kurdish interview with Kazem Kazemi (in Kurdish below):
LISTEN TO
Kurdish refugee plays heavy metal music to get through detention on Manus Island
SBS Kurdish
16/02/202009:35
