Australia: Third asylum seeker sets himself on fire

A picture provided by the Tamil Refugee Council of Leo Seemanpillai, who died.

IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison has described the third asylum seeker to set himself on fire in as many months as “another distressing incident” and says it will have no bearing on the processing of asylum claims.

A Tamil asylum seeker splashed himself with petrol and ignited it, in a home in the Melbourne suburb of Noble Park on Friday night.

His housemates intervened and put out the fire, but the 40-year-old man suffered burns to his legs and he was taken by ambulance to Dandenong hospital.

Mr Morrison said yesterday he was yet to be formally briefed on the case however he confirmed the man was an illegal maritime arrival (IMA) who held a bridging visa.

“I am aware of reports that an IMA BVE holder self-harmed by setting himself on fire in Dandenong late yesterday,” the minister said in a statement issued late yesterday.

“The man concerned had been receiving services under the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme (ASAS) since August 2013.

“My department and the ASAS service provider are monitoring the situation to ensure appropriate supports are in place.

“This is another distressing incident and I am yet to receive a briefing on the case.” It is the third such incident involving Tamil asylum seekers in Australia in as many months.

In May, Leo Seemanpillai burned to death outside his Geelong home, and in April a Sydney-based Tamil man also set himself alight but survived with burns to 75 per cent of his body.

Mr Morrison said such cases had no bearing on the processing of Tamil asylum seeker claims or on the government’s policy.

“It is important that public commentary does not provide an incentive for repetition of these events by other persons who may be vulnerable,” he said.

“It is important that such actions, or the threat of such action has no bearing on a person’s asylum claims or the government’s policy on the assessment of claims.”

Tamil Refugee Council spokesperson Sri Samy said the men were driven by fear of being returned to Sri Lanka, where they faced torture or death.

“I have had seven young men tell me in the past few weeks that they are thinking of doing this,” she said.

Mrs Samy said the previous Labor government, and the current Coalition government, had sent back more than 1000 Tamil asylum seekers under an “enhanced screening process” which did not allow time for proper assessment of asylum claims.

“We are very lucky on this occasion that the man’s housemates were aware of what he was planning to do otherwise we may have had another death on our hands,” she said.

Source: theaustralian.com.au