240 Indonesians Thrown in Australian Prison Receive Compensation
- VIVA.co.id/Arianti Widya
He mentioned that based on in-depth tracing and investigation of hundreds of still underage detainees, they were generally persuaded to work as crew members when they were children, with job offers such as cooks on ships, unaware that they were being exploited by human-smuggling networks.
According to Australian law at that time, every ship crew found to be minors should be returned to their home country, but these children faced legal charges instead.
Ali Yasmin, one of them, recounted being detained by the Australian Federal Police at the age of 13 for entering Australia on a boat carrying asylum seekers from Afghanistan.
He was one of many Indonesian children prosecuted by Australian authorities between 2007 and 2013 and considered adults using X-ray wrist examination methods to predict their chronological age.
Although the Indonesian Police had sent a valid copy of Ali Yasmin's birth certificate to the Australian Federal Police on October 12, 2010, Ali Yasmin was sentenced to five years in prison as an adult in December 2010.
"Because we entered Australia on a boat carrying asylum seekers, the Australian authorities detained us, and they used X-ray wrist examination methods to predict our chronological age. At that time, I was considered lying, and they falsified my birthdate, stating that I was 19 years old," Ali Yasmin stated.
On May 17, 2012, the Attorney General of Australia announced the release of Indonesian nationals from prison, so on May 18, 2012, Ali Yasmin could return to Indonesia.
In 2017, the Court of Appeal in the state of Western Australia declared a miscarriage of justice had occurred. Therefore, the decision overturned the sentence, and all judges unanimously agreed that Ali Yasmin should be released.
In 2018, Yasmin initiated a class-action lawsuit for compensation on his behalf and on behalf of other Indonesian children.
On December 22, 2023, the Federal Court of Australia decided to award AUD 27.5 million as compensation for Indonesian children unlawfully detained in immigration facilities and imprisoned as adults.
