Refugee on Manus Island claims Immigration Minister Peter Dutton ‘wants to hide the truth’

THE Australian government has made astonishing claims over a shooting, but a man on the inside tells a very different story.

REFUGEE advocates are joining an Iranian refugee living on Manus Island claiming Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is “lying” and “wants to hide the truth” over a recent shooting at the Manus Island detention centre.

Mr Dutton said the incident, where detainees were forced to shelter inside when locals stormed the facility, was allegedly sparked by asylum seekers being seen leading a local boy, aged 5, into the centre.

But Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian refugee on Manus, told news.com.au: “Definitely the minister is a liar and he wants to hide the truth. I strongly believe that the minister is trying to hide the truth.”

Mr Boochani says a statement from PNG police cites nothing regarding the five-year-old boy, and points to an incident that oocured on a naval base oval.

Dutton is contradicting PNG police and PNG defence force. He is a liar. Their statements do not mention 5-year-old boy. #Manus pic.twitter.com/kVEXSu3V22

— Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) April 20, 2017

Aust immigration minister lying. He wants to hide truth about 14 April. I ask him to read #Manus police statement. Nothing there about a boy

— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) April 20, 2017

Dutton's comment about April 14 very dangerous & makes refugees & staff less safe. Why do you want to make conflict btwn refugees & locals?

— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) April 20, 2017

But in an interview with David Speers to air on Sky News tonight, Mr Dutton weighed in on why PNG Defence personnel, described in one report as “drunken navy personnel”, may have opened fire of up to 100 rounds into the centre on Good Friday, claiming three asylum seekers were spotted leading a five-year-old boy towards the immigration centre.

“I think there was concern about why the boy was being led, or for what purpose he was being led, away back into the regional processing centre,” Mr Dutton told Sky News on Thursday.

“There was an alleged incident where three asylum seekers were alleged to be leading a local five-year-old boy back toward the facility, there was a lot of angst around that within the local PNG community.

“There was concern for what purpose the boy was being lead away back into the regional processing centre.

“I think it’s fair to say the mood had elevated. Local residents were quite angry about this particular incident and another alleged sexual assault.”

Mr Dutton alluded to rising tensions in the facility, where a 28-year-old Pakistani man was charged with the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl.

“It’s the first time Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, someone from the government, has formally linked these claims to what happened,” political analyst Samantha Maiden said.

Mr Dutton said the matters were under investigation. The five-year-old boy was returned to his parents unharmed.

.@samanthamaiden: Peter Dutton says an incident on Manus Island may have been sparked over concerns for a child MORE https://t.co/fenzJ0qsgK pic.twitter.com/36g3VlNZNl

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 20, 2017

But Mr Boochani claims different, describing his witness account in a series of social media posts.

“The problem started when some of the refugees were coming from a soccer game to the centre, and a man from the Navy who the refugees claim was drunk started to argue with them,” Mr Boochani said.

“They started to fight each other and then a lot of young local people and refugees got involved in the fight. After a while the refugees ran away to the centre and the local people followed them throwing stones.

“When the refugees reached the centre both groups started throwing stones and other hard things at each other. Some of the locals started to beat the Australian guards who were outside of the centre and beat them very seriously. They even beat some police officers who were there.

“At this moment the Navy started shooting and all of the locals, officers and refugees ran away. The Navy shot about 100 times and some of their bullets hit and entered the rooms in Mike and Foxtrot.

“Australian immigration put out a statement that the Navy only shot into the air but it’s not true because some of the bullets made holes in the fences and the walls of rooms and that is clear in the photos and video that have been published in the media.”

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Originally published as Refugee on Manus Island claims Immigration Minister Peter Dutton ‘wants to hide the truth’