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Afghan, Iranian Asylum Seekers Demand That Indonesia Send Them To Australia


Around 120 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers are refusing to leave a ship that rescued them at sea unless Indonesia provides a new vessel to allow them to continue on to Australia.

The ship that rescued them this week from a sinking wooden boat near Java took them to the Indonesian port of Merak.

But the asylum seekers say they fear that if they disembark, Indonesian authorities will put them in jail rather than forward them to Australia.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and often jails asylum seekers awaiting refugee status.

Based on reporting by AFP

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