Deathscapes

Reza Barati 11a - Killing Reza Barati

Deathscapes

Killing Reza Barati

It's night time at the Manus Island Detention Centre. A small group of men gather in an area that appears to be between two buildings. Plastic chair line both sides. A plastic fold out table sits in the centre of the frame. There are plants on the table and a frame photo fo Reza Barati. One man sits on a chair, while the rest stand, gather at the end furthest from the camera. Reza Barati's photo has also been stuck on one of the doors.

[imagecaption] Vigil for Reza Barati, Manus Island, Lombrum Camp, 2015.  [/imagecaption]

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Reza Barati was a 23-year-old Kurdish architecture student who fled from the city of Lomar in the Ilam province (Kurdistan region) of Iran. Reza Barati’s boat made landfall on Christmas Island on  24 July 2013. Only five days earlier, a change in policy regarding boat arrivals had been effected. Reza Barati was sent by force to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and had been there for about 6 months at the time of his violent murder. He was known among his peers as ‘the gentle giant’.

‘We would never think that they would kill the strong, stocky Reza Barati, unjustly under stroke with their hand’.

Letter from Reza Barati’s friends


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This research was primarily supported under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme from 2016-2020.

Partial funding was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grants scheme in 2016-2017.

The views expressed herein are those of the named authors and are not necessarily those of the funders.

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