Gold Coast migration agent Rosemary Acutt fights for wife of Australian permanent resident to get flown from Afghanistan
UPDATE: A Gold Coast lawyer desperate to save a 21-year-old woman in Afghanistan says the Australian Government’s level of disorganisation is “epic”. FULL STORY
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AS the crisis in Afghanistan worsens, a Gold Coast migration agent has successfully helped the 21-year-old wife of an Australian permanent resident flee the troubled nation.
Former solicitor Rosemary Acutt, of Queensland Migration Services, said Sahar Abbasi had arrived in Perth on August 26 after waiting at Kabul airport for help.
“The level of relief in the office is palpable,” said Ms Acutt.
“The situation is rapidly deteriorating and I don’t think there’ll be many more flights from now on.
“It’s just awful, it’s sheer desperation now, I think people will start clambering over the walls soon and then even inside the airport won’t be safe.”
Ms Acutt said her client, Yosof Hussaini, hadn’t slept in days worried about his wife.
“He was speechless yesterday, he just cried,” he said.
“Sadly his friend's wife and child were with Sahar on the weekend but she had to leave because it was too hard to stay at the gates waiting to be let into the airport with a young child.
“She went home and couldn’t make it back past Taliban checkpoints. Sadly there’s not happy endings for everyone.”
The former solicitor has hit out the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the level of disorganisation that she believes has left Australian families desperate for information about their loves ones in Afghanistan.
“The level of disorganisation was epic, there was no rhyme or reason to who was being let into the airport or on a flight, nor any clear communication as to who should try and get to the airport in the first place.
“People who went home assuming they wouldn’t get through gates were scrambling to get back to the airport.”
Ms Acutt said she wished Covid protesters would look at what’s happening overseas to gain some perspective on what freedom actually looked like.
“SHE’S ALL ALONE”: COAST LAWYER FIGHTS TO RETRIEVE WIFE OF AUSTRALIAN IN KABUL
August 24
A PROMINENT Gold Coast registered migration agent fears the 21-year-old Afghani wife of her Australian permanent resident client will be killed or forced by the Taliban to marry one of its militia if she’s left in Afghanistan.
Former solicitor Rosemary Acutt, of Queensland Migration Services in Bundall and Brisbane, said the last contact she had with Sahar Abbasi was outside the gates of Kabul airport on Monday night.
“It took her two days to reach the front of the queue and she has had no sleep and is all alone,” said Ms Acutt.
“She cannot sleep at the airport because the Taliban shoot people at random.
“Despite eight phone calls to DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) I’m still not sure where she is.
“She had a backpack on her so we’re hoping she has a charger for her phone otherwise we’re hoping the silence means she’s physically on a plane.
“Our third party sources over there have said that 650 people standing at the gate made it through but I’m not optimistic because I’ve lost faith in DFAT. I just hope decisions are made on humanitarian grounds.”
Ms Acutt’s client, Yosof Hussaini, has lived in Australia for more than a decade after he fled his homeland after being persecuted by the Taliban — he was granted asylum in 2011 and can’t return to collect his wife or will likely be killed upon arrival.
She said Mr Hussaini, a painter from East Brisbane, fears for his wife’s safety in Afghanistan because he belongs to the minority Hazara and Shia communities and worked with foreigners in Afghanistan.
“He’s absolutely distraught now that we’ve lost contact,” she said.
“We just aren’t getting any information from officials and are having to rely on pieces of information we hear through social media chat groups.
“Mrs Abbasi faces particular risk not only because of her gender, but due to her ethnicity (Hazara) and her family background — her father worked for the government.
“Mr Hussaini feels powerless to protect his wife from Australia and the couple are extremely fearful and distraught.”
Ms Acutt said Mrs Abbasi, who is registered with DFAT, lodged a partner visa in May this year and the processing time was about two years but could blow out to four.
“When the political climate in Afghanistan started to deteriorate we sent emails requesting priority processing of our client’s visa but got no response from DFAT,” she said.
“As the situation worsened and with no official information being released by the DFAT we sought information through other channels including other agents and those in Afghanistan.”
Ms Acutt said she was advised by Senator Nick McKim’s office on behalf of the Australian Government that because Mrs Abbasi had evidence of her visa application and other official documents from the Australian Government, she should make her way to the north gate of Kabul airport and present that evidence so she’d be let into the airport.
“We were told once she was let inside, the government would keep her inside the compound where her visa would hopefully be urgently processed,” said Ms Acutt.
“I am concerned she may not meet all the criteria such as the medical and relevant fingerprints and facial scanning because that’s all done at the US Embassy and they were the first ones too shut down and ship out.”
Ms Acutt said at one stage DFAT said her client’s wife was not eligible to be let through the gate with no visa and she should go home.
“The last phone operator declined to give us her identifying information, while simultaneously asking us to identify, by name, any previous people we spoke with — all of whom refused to give names,” she said.
“I understand it’s a logistical nightmare but surely there must be some sort of culpability for information that is being given.
“Commonwealth officials and members of parliament must be held accountable for the information that they give, lives depend on receiving clear, truthful and accurate information.”
She said Mrs Abbasi thankfully didn’t go home when DFAT suggested because she may have been put on a flight with others hopefully on their way to Australia.
“The Taliban have given everyone until August 31 to get out and she can’t keep travelling back and forward to the airport each time risking not getting through a Taliban checkpoint,” Ms Acutt said.
“I just hope Yosof and Sahar have a happy ending because there’s no shortage of people who won’t.”
Originally published as Gold Coast migration agent Rosemary Acutt fights for wife of Australian permanent resident to get flown from Afghanistan
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