An Iranian refugee held at an Australian-funded detention centre in Papua New Guinea has won Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2016.
Ali, a 25-year-old whose pen name is Eaten Fish, has chronicled his three-year detention on Manus Island as he struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and debilitating panic attacks.
Joel Pett, President of the Board of Directors of Cartoonists Rights Network International, announced the recipient of the award.
Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) said Ali was recognised for his courage in documenting life under Australia’s offshore detention programme – which drew thousands of protesters onto streets across the country calling for its closure.
Under Australia’s hardline immigration policy, anyone intercepted trying to reach the country by boat is sent for processing to camps on Manus or Nauru in the South Pacific. They are not eligible to be resettled in Australia.
Australia and Papua New Guinea said earlier that the Manus centre would be shut but they gave no date for the closure, leaving the fate of about 800 refugees unclear.
