The newspaper managed to obtain copies of both letters.
“You are the only hope for us to give us a new life … we beg for your help to take us out of this miserable situation,” said the letter to the US president, written in English and signed by 10 Pakistani asylum seekers.
The letter’s signees claimed that they fled Pakistan because they felt threatened by Taliban terrorists.
Another letter, sent to the Canadian immigration department, was signed by over 40 Iranian detainees. They say that they have been detained in “the Australian version of Guantanamo prison” for 15 months, and that two of their friends have died during that time.
“Currently we are used as a deterrent signboard for the refugees of the world used by the Australian government which tells them this is what is going to happen to you if you come to Australia,” the letter says.
No replies to either of the letters have been issued yet.
The detention center on Manus Island was originally set up by the Australian government in 2001 as part of the ‘Pacific Solution’ – a policy of shipping asylum seekers to facilities on island nations in the Pacific Ocean instead of allowing them into the Australian mainland. The Pacific Solution was largely dismantled in 2008, until a similar policy was adopted in 2012 by the government of Julia Gillard.
