should not be in prison or. we have decided to suspend campaign activities until we have sufficient guarantees we call on all parties and political movements without exception to make a statement rejecting this type of aggression we invite all to meet us to the forum to agree of a game of clean rules more than seventeen thousand women in sri lanka are vying to be elected into government voters are choosing representatives in more than three hundred local elections on saturday a change in the law requires women to fill a quarter of all the seats you use chief breck's at the negotiating has worn plans for a period of transition to ease the u.k.'s withdrawal could be at risk michel barnier says substantial disagreements with britain and jeopardizing london's plans for a transitional period of around two years after it formally leaves in twenty nineteen he also rejected condemnation from the u.k.'s bricks at minister david davis who described proposals to sanction britain if it breached e.u. rules touring that transition as discourteous those are your headlines the news

continues here on al-jazeera after talk to al-jazeera all season by. al-jazeera where ever you. think. you can war is all. the more than four and a half years iranian refugee peru's but chinese has been living in the limbo on a remote specific island he was sent there by australia after he tried to reach its shores by boat. for our. it is a prison it was a prison. even worse than

a prison because. the prisoners in or around the world nobody porcher them you really see it as torture yeah of course you know it is a systematic torture. johnny was a journalist in iran publishing stories promoting the kurdish language and culture after colleagues were arrested and accused of undermining the iranian state who johnny feared he'd be next he fled aiming for australia. tens of thousands of others had gone before him thanks smugglers to take them across the sea from in the knees ear to the australian territory of christmas island between two thousand and nine and twenty thirteen more than fifty thousand people have made similar journeys most of them ultimately were allowed to settle as refugees in australia but in australia people were alarmed at the growing number of refugees coming by boat they watched horrified as some boat sank or were smashed against rocks on trying to land

in the midst of an election campaign in july twenty thirty australia's government announced a radical policy. people who come by boat now have no prospect of being resettled in australia the rules have changed if you come here by boat you'll be sent to papa new guinea australia's government had done a deal with papua new guinea once it's colony but now an independent country in exchange for billions of dollars p.m.g. would accommodate refugees who try to reach australia until at the very least their claims to be refugees were decided combined with australia's navy turning back boats at sea the deportation policy was about to terence if settlement in australia was denied to anyone arriving as australia's government saw it illegally by boat who in future would try the chinese boat was see when the new policy was announced it arrived on christmas island four days later on the chinese thirtieth birthday four weeks later he was deported to matter silent in papua new guinea he's been

there ever since for nearly five years and it's from a man of silent that he talks to al-jazeera. for johnny thank you very much for talking to al-jazeera can we start with why you left iran back in twenty thirteen you know i fell in trouble with the government so. i were i hide myself or both more than amongst. friend house and. after that. i received some information that's they are going through i just need to. have some plan some action so i decided to leave iran so. i. came through a straight. australia's government says its policy was and is necessary to deter

what it's called illegal immigration it is question the motives of those arriving by boat asking why they didn't claim asylum in countries they travel through before getting on boats to australia it is suggested that those who come by boat are economic migrants rather than refugees genuinely fleeing persecution that their refusal to accept a permanent life in papua new guinea or on the tiny island nation of nuru shows that their real aim is and always was life in a wealthy developed country not just a safe one it says the refugees life or exaggerate with stories of poor conditions in australian run the tension centers on madness and the route ultimately australia's government says tough policies against uncontrolled migration unnecessary to allow generosity towards refugees through a managed process bestrode in support record numbers of people coming through the migration program and humanitarian program when governments have proper control of the process i don't want to give up their process and the right to decide who comes

to our country to people smugglers so you left iran and you decided to go to australia yeah i want to do that journey you know i float in the new year i found the smuggler that he told me that i am going to send you why did you not stay in indonesia you were out of iran yet you were not going to be perceived by authorities there why not stay in indonesia at that point the first place you got to apply for asylum through the u.n.h.c.r. some of the refugees they were i rested by the police unit and they deported them and they didn't ask them questions. just. deported them because so many refugees on that. so the government wanted to. torture them went back to iran yeah and they send them back to iran so you decided it wasn't safe to be an engineer you know what i really was not safe. i decided to

change it took about how much you pay for that journey i pay about five thousand dollars. on the first. forty eight hours. and i found myself on the ocean. that was very ill. and a swamp for a vote that. would that was on the ocean on the water. after that. ship came there. fishman took me from the water. after that i was on the ship for about two days and they called the police and police came you know they put me in the. i was in the jail for the night after that. and they went

to. after two weeks i started to come to australia again so that was a very big decision. because the journey on the ocean is very down yet it sounds so many people die so i experience i want to experience that then yes some of the refugees they don't know that one year but i want experienced so in second time when i started to come through the stranger it's meaning that i didn't feel. safe in indonesia and i thought that i must go to a strange one i must you know leave this country because it was not safe for me and landed on christmas island on the twenty third of july twenty third saying that was four days after australia's government changed their policy the rules have changed

how did they tell you that news would be coming to you now i didn't know that was really a make believe i was on the ocean because i. our boat got lost for a week and we came to australia on sixteen july. and was supposed to arrive to christmas island after two days what our boat get lost and we were lost for a week and when we arrived to a train. was twenty three july exactly my best thing. when we arrived there they put us in a place like some crazy place and they didn't allow us to call our family we were there for about twenty very. after twenty days they told us they just told us that you must go to. uni so for

twenty made i thought that i arrived in australia as a. free country so i didn't know that after twenty days they said. we are going to examine your tall man in finance and you must live there. or you will buy per your country do you understand why australia's government felt they needed to introduce this tough policy. i can understand you know i have been thinking aboard this for more than forty years and they cannot understand why they are you know torturing people. that they say australia's government more than fifty thousand people came just before you more boats were coming all the time as you say and you almost experienced more than a thousand people drowned at sea that had to stop and this policy has stopped that

people no longer come by boat so while every sympathy for you in your situation can you understand the need for the broader policy now i can understand because i think it's sending people to the island like not on monday a sign on you know even premier on the boat complex radio but it's a main lobby and then not yet them main reason was that they then backed the boats to indonesia they slightly some at sea and they pushed them away so the people in indonesia or the refugees in the middle immediately thought or their countries they are not watching us when we get freedom they come to australia the main reason is that they then man the boat. the people. the refugees they think if we go to. we will lose our money and we

will. have a very risky journey and maybe we arrive there. and they send us back so the main reason is that the main reason is not there may send people to. among. your understand why australia feels it needs to control its borders a former prime minister of australia famously said that we will decide who comes to our country and the manner in which they come that was john howard back in two thousand and one that is a very reasonable thing to say isn't it in order to be an open country in order to have high levels of immigration as australia does it needs to know that it is controlling its borders that's fair isn't it you know i am not in a position to make this isn't always true you whore or give advice to them you know i am a refugee so i don't think about this that was three years trying to protect

its borders the main important thing is i myself and these people that we have been in the prison camp in this island for more than forty years for their first three years on madness the refugees were kept in what australia's government called a processing center half an hour away from the island's main town with high fences and god's refugees weren't allowed out no visitors in those inside considered it a prison in twenty sixteen happy new guinea's opposition leader took a case to the country supremes court arguing that the refugees detention was illegal under the constitution the court agreed and to comply with the ruling the government made the center an open facility refugees still lived there who could come and go freely in october twenty seventh seen the sense it was completely shut down guard medical and support staff left power and water supplies were

disconnected but most refugees refused to leave the three weeks they lived in the former prison surviving on rain water and food. smuggled in by sympathetic locals. no money no one. they are really the refugees the siege was a protest a chance to make a stand but in late november when you get in police objected them by force some refugees were hit with sticks and dragged on to buses. that was your hundred years since mr hayes you know it is very strange really want to know. what he's played australia as government always said it was never a person it was a regional processing center what was it to you for. it is a prison it was a prison you know their policy was to create hate you know they were happy that people being man was free zone helped

australia to forget those he'll still be established this policy and they were running the prison camps like these you know interesting thing i would like to say once they put the request on i asked them to give me i'm. a straight young enough i want to put me in the war because of my worth i understand no. you cannot have with radium i can't go to australia because yeah that's the i don't want to go through you're just saying one four hundred they would like. they did them wrong me what was life like in the three weeks off with when you were refusing to leave really as a protest more than anything else you know and that was one of their own and you know i myself experienced that because i was born in war. was america was on votes in some ways we were happy. because we were out

of. the systematic torture we with you know there are officers who were not. you know there were there was a little taller you were in charge of your own lives and yeah yeah we were confronting. our life during the siege and the of action he tweeted in fact ever since being sent to mount a speech on his campaign relentlessly against the policy that sent him there and has kept him there he's kept up his journalism using mobile phone credit paid for by sympathetic australians he tweets prolifically he writes an online newspaper column in the guardian which in november one him an amnesty international media award but jani has even shot a film on his phone edited by a dutch director the resulting movie about life a man of silence has been shown at film festivals around the world he's now working on writing a play and a book they were very successful you have become prolific you have

a column in the guardian newspaper your tweets are read by many thousands of people you do a regular interviews in the australian and global media including many times on al-jazeera do you feel more a journalist or a refugee i don't think a more myself you know as a german news or refugee i feel the time human i am human and them fighting for humanity i am fighting for these people you know the people that i feel they've suffering and they know them for a long time i know them you know i am living with the refugees and i hear their stories i know their stories so it is very important for me but on the first day i know that understood i am thinking like this that it is my duty as a journalist it is my mission. it is my duty to work on this

issue. it is my duty to tell through to people and also saw an important thing is that i am working to record history of this policy record the history of this prison camp for history for the next generation the deals australia reached with papua new guinea and the room where the refugees would stay in those countries permanently after the stories of persecution were confirmed australia's government says if refugees were genuine they'd happily accept life in any country why not take the option on the table which is resettlement in pop when you get you know first is that we didn't come to peace and secondly is that. doesn't. get to protect the refugees and accept the refugees and the refugees. and they are sure that if they accept. they will lose everything they

won't have any clear future in peace but millions of papua new guinea and have clear futures they live here yes country is not at war why not stay here you're not going to be persecuted here in our. country. tribal culture we. poor economy and our store is not safe for the refugees so they're refugees cannot accept to live in our saw they are saying if you accept. after eight years we will give you a passport. so. how can we accept that some people may have families but people wanting this will think this is a man who was fleeing for his life yet if fled iran because his life was in danger your life is not in imminent danger here why not accept that and stay

a lot of people. were attacked by the. people. why because you know the. people are very kind people but they cannot accept they cannot accept that they are living in a poor condition the government accept some people on try to protect them they cannot accept that. believe that the refugees cannot live in peace. you know some of the refugees. or really try to live in peace and when they couldn't so because of you know cultural reasons because of economy crees and because of you know so many reasons because it is not safe country for the refugees because their government cannot protect them they cannot start. you know simple life in peace and it is

and that you know of that but you haven't tried have you you haven't tried it you saying you could you say you couldn't get out early in time when you can if you haven't tried it you know you're asking a question from me that. if you asked the. government. they i'm so you you know in my way. they are i agree that. they come apart some of the refugees and they are not saying that they we want to accept refugees neither papua new guinea's prime minister nor is immigration minister responded to requests for an interview but another government minister speaking in a personal capacity did talk he says life in p. and g. is possible for refugees who try to make it work but if they won't it's not his country to force them what they do want is resettlement in a country that they feel that they will have

a proper chance of integrating into and i don't believe that's possible that's for a stranger to sort out that's that's a strange problem the stray needs to resolve it quickly it's not a pup a new problem a stray is created an issue to solve or do you want them not really we really don't need them simple or man aside into most locals think it's time the refugees moved on which he now is for an obvious almost five years. i would have thought by now you know so that's that's that's my view i question is did the inmate hang loose you know if they make free on the suicide bombing and so like that it's where they had industry they may do something west like we used to hear t.v. and radio suicide bombing in foreseeable so that they considered terrorists. much

attention to. the issue over there but that's what is seeing on the street. and then make this ng be careful just be careful. australia has done deals with other countries to take refugees during his final days in office president obama agreed to settle as many as twelve hundred fifty of australia's refugees in the united states president trump has called that a dumb deal but has said reluctantly honor it but an offer from new zealand to resettle others has been rejected by australia's government which says as new zealanders have the right to settle in australia refugees would use new zealand as a back door into australia going back to the broader policy australia's government says rightly that there are millions of refugees around the world needing resettlement a year when the other men here any more deserving than any of them of resettlement in a rich country like australia what makes you any more deserving than someone stuck

in a refugee camp in lebanon for example i know nothing to. me crisis in the war but when we arrived two or three in your was not known when we arrived to australia there was no i.c.'s when we arrived to australia. there were still many millions of earth is not even that you know it's not mean that. it was through no government has this right to torture us is that when you see it as tojo's people in a very strong word you feel tortured yeah it is a port sure you know we have been under torture scene they are torturing us you know we have been on the porch we have been under a systematic torture you've been fed you've been housed nugget how is that for you know six people already night. six people are moving there and then this policy in this prison camp six people six young people one of them killed by.

stuff four of them they because of many. that lives to kill themselves you know how that was. tortured them for a long time. after that they left them in their ajna we talked protection you know we put protection on the our. way so we still we don't know that they kill them or they kill. you know. the those guys you know they were. in this for a long time and his phone call with the american president australia's prime minister malcolm turnbull described most of the refugees here as economic migrants you obviously now know them all quite well is he right or you and some of the others economic migrants rather than genuinely genuinely fleeing persecution you

know. that was thrown i'm government you go in the process people are under you know by international law. and. more than ninety person off the people or. recorded as a refugee or you have money all of you you pay five thousand dollars to get on a boat to christmas island there are a few does not mean that all the more is to the poor all the while you there are some desperate yeah you snug and then you are a poor you know the poor what are your hopes feel feature you know i hope. you know there are so many people in australia are fighting for our sun will stop or think. and. i hold that for three million dollars a month. make little for

a real solution and let the possible risks which annie thank you very much thank you for talking to others through.

what makes this moment this era we're living through so unique this is really an attack on the truth itself is a lot of misunderstanding a distortion even of what free speech is supposed to be about the context is hugely important level right to publish if you have a duty to be offensive or provoke the thought of it as people do setting the stage for a serious debate. up front at this time on al-jazeera. on the sidelines of the olympics an unprecedented site north and south korean leaders shaking hands in so. low and welcome you're watching al-jazeera live from the.