SA: Coins trigger Bakhtiari saga

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-2004
SA: Coins trigger Bakhtiari saga

By Steve Larkin

ADELAIDE, Dec 24 AAP - When Roqia Bakhtiari couldn't identify some Afghan coins, Australia's
highest profile refugee case began with all its twists and turns.

She and her five children had arrived in Australia seeking asylum and to join her husband
Ali Bakhtiari.

Ali Bakhtiari had arrived separately, and in August 2000 was granted asylum and settled
in Sydney to await the arrival of his family.

His claim of being an Afghan persecuted farmer by the Taliban was accepted by Australian
authorities, but in mid-2003 his visa was cancelled because, according to the government,
it had been obtained under false pretences.

Mr Bakhtiari was not a subsistence farmer from the Afghan village of Charkh but an
electrical plumber from Quetta in Pakistan, the government said.

The change of stance was brought about after the Refugee Review Tribunal considered
the asylum claims of Mrs Bakhtiari and her children in 2002.

During the hearing, Mrs Bakhtiari could not identify some Afghan coins, prompting the
tribunal to find she was not Afghani.

Her supporters claim the money was Northern Alliance currency, unknown in her township,
and regardless, Mrs Bakhtiari was illiterate and bartered for goods.

The family was sent to the Woomera detention centre in South Australia's north, where
their plight soon made international headlines.

In February 2002, Mrs Bakhtiari's brother, Mahzer Ali, was also in detention at Woomera,
and threw himself onto razor wire at the now-defunct detention centre to draw attention
to his family's situation.

Mahzer Ali was later deported to Pakistan but has made his way back to Afghanistan,
where he voted in that country's October elections.

In June 2002, Mrs Bakhtiari's eldest sons, Alamdar and Muntazar, escaped Woomera during
a mass breakout of detainees.

Aided by refugee advocates, the teenaged boys arrived in Melbourne and sought refuge
at the British consulate, only to be later returned to Australian authorities and immigration
detention.

Last month, the British Court of Appeal rejected legal action claiming the boys were
unlawfully removed from the British consulate in Melbourne.

That court's ruling was the outcome of one of about 20 separate legal actions taken
by the family and their lawyers to try to prove they are indeed from Afghanistan and gain
asylum in Australia.

During the legal proceedings, Mrs Bakhtiari and children were moved into residential
immigration, initially residing at an Adelaide hotel before moving in with a family at
a suburban Adelaide address.

While in Adelaide, Mrs Bakhtiari gave birth to another son - who the High Court has
ruled is not an Australian citizen because his parents are not genuine refugees.

Mr Bakhtiari remained at the Baxter detention centre throughout the legal battles.

With all legal avenues exhausted, the immigration department on Saturday removed Mrs
Bakhtiari and her children from the Adelaide house and back into residential detention
at Port Augusta, near the Baxter centre.

Advocates say the move is in preparation for the family's deportation, which Immigration
Minister Amanda Vanstone says is an option.

"They are Pakistani, they are not Afghani," Senator Vanstone said this week, adding
that the Bakhtiari's court actions had cost Australian taxpayers more than half a million
dollars.

"This family has been given every opportunity," she said.

"What I think is appropriate is the Bakhtiari family accept that they have had a fair
go in Australia, all their claims have been considered, that they accept that and simply
choose to go.

"If they don't choose to do that, removal is an option that can be considered."

AAP sl/hu/br

KEYWORD: BAKHTIARI (AAP BACKGROUNDER) (REPEAT)

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