Out in the living room, in this small, shared house in Geelong, Victoria, a shrine sits on the dining table. A wreath of white roses, chrysanthemums and daisies circles a framed photo of the 29-year-old Tamil asylum seeker, who set himself on fire on 31 May. A glass of milk and a glass of water sit – full to the brim – next to the flowers, left behind for Seemanpillai’s spirit to sip, according to a friend. He is the second Tamil asylum seeker to self-immolate in Australia over the past year – the first survived. Seemanpillai died on 1 June.
For the people who knew him in this industrial city in southern Victoria, the tragedy of his death is beginning to sink in.
Aasif, a close friend and fellow asylum seeker who asked not to be identified, is visibly shaken. “I saw him last Wednesday,” he said through an interpreter. “He cooked for me. We talked about our families. We had a good conversation. He was happy.
“Before I left, he asked: ‘Are you just going to leave me like this?’ I thought it was a joke.” He paused. “If I’d have known I wouldn’t have gone.”
Seemanpillai’s family said they were devastated. “We haven’t eaten for days,” Leo’s father said on the phone from a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu, India, where the family have lived for more than two decades since fleeing Sri Lanka in 1990. “We are in tears. We want to see our son.” Full story...
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For the people who knew him in this industrial city in southern Victoria, the tragedy of his death is beginning to sink in.
Aasif, a close friend and fellow asylum seeker who asked not to be identified, is visibly shaken. “I saw him last Wednesday,” he said through an interpreter. “He cooked for me. We talked about our families. We had a good conversation. He was happy.
“Before I left, he asked: ‘Are you just going to leave me like this?’ I thought it was a joke.” He paused. “If I’d have known I wouldn’t have gone.”
Seemanpillai’s family said they were devastated. “We haven’t eaten for days,” Leo’s father said on the phone from a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu, India, where the family have lived for more than two decades since fleeing Sri Lanka in 1990. “We are in tears. We want to see our son.” Full story...
Related posts:
- I was tortured in Sri Lanka for harbouring Tamils...
- Australian silence on human rights is our gift to Sri Lanka...
- Australia's asylum seeker obsession puts democracy at risk...
- Australia, the steroid-soaked neighbourhood bully of the Pacific...
- Australia’s election campaign is driven by a barbarism that dares not speak its name...
- Australia’s treatment of refugees is 'cruel and mean-spirited’
- Australia sending refugees to Papua New Guinea, where they are abused...
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