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Reza Berati, an Iranian asylum seeker killed in Australian detention

The Wilful Killing of Reza Berati

On a fateful evening in February 2014, Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati was brutally kicked and bashed to death

He met his death while 'in the care' of Australia's Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, who - as a Minister in Australia's Tony Abbott government - was fully responsible for his life and wellbeing at the Australian Immigration detention centre on PNG's Manus Island.

It is not an overstatement to say that Reza's death and the associated escalation of events at Manus Island's "Lombrum Immigration Processing Centre" was subject to the most intense and extensive media scrutiny and coverage ever of two subsequent days in Australia's recent history.

No wonder. Since the Federal election in September 2013, Australian journalists have been primed by the Abbott government's extremist secrecy and blunt refusal to give an open account of what it does vis-a-vis asylum seekers knocking on Australia's doors.

The unprecedented levels of government operational secrecy since Abbott came to power has become impersonated in a most ugly and grotesque way by Abbott's fanatic Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, who displays extreme zealotry and passionately portrayed blunt dismissal of the media's principles, expressed in the notion of "the public's right to know".

When it comes to Australia's application of principles of "press freedom", the issue of maritime asylum seekers sharply jars, and under Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison's arrogant rule, the subject brings all aspects of "democratic openness and accountability" to a screeching halt.

What's on this page

Four large PDF files store the hundreds of media items published following the cruel 2014 death on Manus Island of Reza Berati.

Media Reports & Opinion

External links

Other resources