Three Years in Prison

[imagecaption] Memorial for Omid in Iran, 2016. [/imagecaption]

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‘Omid…wanted to survive. He did not want to die.’

‘Pari‘, Omid’s widow

Omid Masoumali was a 23 year old Iranian man who had been living in the Nibok settlement in Nauru with his wife ‘Pari’ after they were both granted refugee status. During a visit by United Nations officials, Omid became upset and distressed and set himself alight.

Despite suffering serious burns that could not be treated on Nauru, the plane didn’t arrive to evacuate him to Australian until about 22 hours later. His wife attributes his death to the fact that treatment was not available at the Royal Republic of Nauru hospital, combined with the delay in evacuating him to Brisbane. ‘Pari’ was brought to Brisbane shortly after Omid was evacuated. Both prior to and following Omid’s death, ‘Pari’ was isolated, had limited access to communications and was denied access to a lawyer. The emotional violence she was subjected to exacerbated her distress.

The word ‘Omid’ means hope, after Omid’s funeral in Iran, his family released a statement. Part of the statement read ‘Our Omid is gone, our hope is dead’.