[imagecaption] Vigil for Rajeev Rajendran, Manus Island RPC, 2017.
Protest for Rajeev Rajendran, Manus Island RPC, 2017.
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‘If he was offered appropriate health care and support he wouldn’t have to take his own life.’
Less than two months after Hamed Shamshiripour was found dead near a school in Lorengau, the body of Rajeev Rajendran, a 32 year old Tamil man, was found on the grounds of the Lorengau hospital in a very similar position. He’d attempted suicide just days before his death. He was facing court proceedings after being charged with rape at the beginning of the year. People who knew him stated that he had been depressed and mentally unwell in the months leading to his death. Brigidine Nun, Jane Keogh, who visited Manus at the time of Rajeev’s death, observed how psychiatric care was completely unavailable on the island, leaving men in a position where they were desperately trying to keep their friends safe without any professional support. Suspicion around both deaths was fueled by the fact that other similar deaths in the local community had been reported just months before.
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