The Kurdish journalist and author told SBS Kurdish on Friday that the prospect of asylum seekers and refugees being detained on Christmas Island again was “really hard to imagine” due to the “harshness” of the detention centre.
The Australian Border Force on Tuesday said the reopening of the facility, located more than 1,500 kilometres from the Australian mainland, would .
The facility was shut down by the federal government in October 2018 and it was briefly reopened in 2019 but did not house any detainees.
Boochani spent a month as a detainee at the facility in 2013 before he was transferred to Manus Island, where he was held for six years.
“Christmas Island is a real prison," he said.
“They opened this before the [2019] election for propaganda, and now they are doing this again. The refugees are victims under this political propaganda.”
Border Force said its ability to deport detainees has been “curtailed” due to global coronavirus measures which have closed borders and reduced international flights.
The agency said the detainees who will be transferred to the facility have been convicted of criminal offences.
The Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre will be re-opened. Source: AAP
A Border Force spokesperson said: “With unlawful non-citizens continuing to move from prison to immigration detention, and with required COVID-19 distancing measures in place within the detention network, this is placing the detention network under pressure.”
Boochani believes the federal government is “not in a position” to label any asylum seeker or refugee as a criminal or unlawful.
“How do you say that these people are criminals and we’re going to send them to Christmas Island? You’re not a court, you’re a government.
“They need these facilities to be open because they have a contract with the SERCO security company and IHMS [International Health and Medical Services]. They pay millions of dollars to these companies and they always need some people in those detention centres and that’s why they are saying this.
“I lived in that system for such a long time, so when they say that these people are criminals, it is completely wrong and they are lying because when someone commits a crime, there is a legal process. They should send them to court and the court would make a decision for them.”
Boochani documented life on Manus Island in his book 'No Friend But the Mountains: The True Story of an Illegally Imprisoned Refugee'. Source: AAP
The facility was used in February to quarantine Australians evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic.
It’s understood that the only people currently being held at the facility is a Tamil family of four, that was 
Boochani said the Australian people should “ask why it is necessary” for the facility to reopen.
An earlier photo of the detained Tamil family from Biloela. Source: Supplied
“I’m not in a position to say that prison is expensive, or keeping people in prison is expensive or not, I’m not a taxpayer.
“Of course, Australian people should think about why they need to reopen this prison camp.”
Its reopening has been who fear relocating detainees to a remote location during the COVID-19 pandemic poses an increased health risk.
A committee of business, political and cultural leaders on the Island are
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a visit to Christmas Island in 2019. Source: AAP
Despite receiving asylum in New Zealand, Boochani affirmed that he would continue to fight for asylum seekers and refugees held in Australian detention centres.
He said it was time to end Australia's “cruel, illegal and inhumane” policy of offshore detention.
“What we can say is about humanity, it is cruel that you keep these people in indefinite detention for more than seven years and you justify that. You cannot justify that.
"We demand freedom for these refugees. I believe that the majority of people [in Australian society] are not happy with what the government is doing.”
You can listen to the full interview with Behrouz Boochani below:
LISTEN TO
Behrouz Boochani on Christmas Island detention centre reopening
SBS Kurdish
06/08/202019:26
