Posted on November 14, 2019 at 2:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
An author whom Australia has detained for six years has finally left the detention center.
New Zealand granted Behrouz Boochani — author of the award-winning memoir No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison — a monthlong visa to attend a literary festival, according to the BBC.
Boochani fled his native Iran, fearing that authorities there would punish him for his journalistic work, and sought asylum on Australia's Christmas Island in July 2013.
His timing, however, was unfortunate: That same month, Australia's prime minister declared that any refugee who arrived by boat would not be allowed to settle in the country.
Boochani told the Guardian, for whom he also wrote in detention, that he will never return to Manus Island.
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Categories: Today in Books