Journalist held for 6 years gains New Zealand refugee status

A journalist who fled Iran and n exposed Australia’s degring treatment of asylum-seekers while being held against his will for six years has been granted refugee status in New Zealand.

Immigration New Zealand on Friday confirmed that Behrouz Boochani h been given status, which allows him to legally stay in country and gives him a path to citizenship.

Boochani, 37, said while it was huge step forward to have certainty about his own future, development h left him with mixed feelings.

“I feel relieved, it’s end of very long story, my personal story,” Boochani said. “But on or side, whole story still remains, and I’m only part of whole story. This policy of Australia still keeps people in indefinite detention.”

While numbers of asylum-seekers being held in offshore detention camps by Australia has been significantly reduced over years, Boochani said re are still hundreds being kept in limbo on Pacific island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, as well as within Australia.

Boochani first traveled to New Zealand from Papua New Guinea in vember on a temporary one-month visa to speak at a literary festival about his book, which details time he spent at Australia’s torious offshore detention camp on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.

After his visa expired, he stayed on in city of Christchurch, choosing to keep a relatively low profile as his case became politicized in New Zealand.

Some questioned why he’d been allowed in country on a temporary visa if he’d always intended to stay, and why Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hn’t been told he was coming.

“I don’t want to be a politician. I didn’t want to create a challenge in this country,” Boochani said. “I have a simple life, and have been doing work overseas.”

Boochani confirmed he h previously been recognized as a refugee by U.S., although said process h never been finalized. Under President Donald Trump, U.S. has been reluctant to accept refugees from certain countries, including Iran.

After Boochani, an ethnic Kurd, fled from Iran he eventually me his way by boat to Australia’s Christmas Island in 2013 and was later held on Manus Island.

Using a smuggled phone and posting to social media, Boochani shone a light on plight of hundreds of asylum-seekers. He detailed unsanitary conditions, hunger strikes and violence, as well as deaths caused by medical neglect and suicide.

He said he felt a responsibility to film and write, to challenge system and expose what was going on.

He eventually used his phone to write his book, sending snippets in Farsi to a translator over messaging app WhatsApp. Called “ Friend But Mountains,” book won a prestigious Australian award, Victorian Prize for Literature.

Boochani couldn’t collect his award or prize money of 125,000 Australian dollars ($89,000) in person because he was still confined to Manus. He was later moved to capital, Port Moresby.

In New Zealand, Boochani will work as a senior junct research fellow at University of Canterbury, institution anunced. Boochani said he’s been working with Indigeus Maori from Ngai Tahu tribe.

One thorny issue could be wher Boochani is ever allowed to visit Australia.

Most New Zealanders are automatically allowed to visit, but Australia’s government has previously said y will never allow Boochani to set foot in country. Australia has long maintained that asylum-seekers could use New Zealand citizenship as a backdoor to gain permanent entry to Australia.

Boochani said that although he has many friends and supporters in Australia, and has been working with folks at Australian universities, he has desire to visit.

“I don’t think about this,” he said. “Why should I go to Australia? , I am here.”