: New Zealand Grants Iranian Journalist Refugee Status After 6 Years in Australian Detention Center #WorldNEWS (WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — A journalist who fled Iran and then exposed Australias

New Zealand Grants Iranian Journalist Refugee Status After 6 Years in Australian Detention Center #WorldNEWS
(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — A journalist who fled Iran and then exposed Australias degrading treatment of asylum-seekers while being held against his will for six years has been granted refugee status in New Zealand.
Immigration New Zealand on Friday confirmed that Behrouz Boochani had been given the status, which allows him to legally stay in the country and gives him a path to citizenship.
Boochani, 37, said while it was huge step forward to have certainty about his own future, the development had left him with mixed feelings.
“I feel relieved, its the end of very long story, my personal story,” Boochani said. “But on the other side, the whole story still remains, and Im only part of whole story. This policy of Australia still keeps people in indefinite detention. ”

Read more: This System Humiliates Me. Refugee Author Behrouz Boochani Documents the Plight of Offshore Detention
While the numbers of asylum-seekers being held in offshore detention camps by Australia has been significantly reduced over the years, Boochani said there are still hundreds being kept in limbo on the Pacific island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, as well as within Australia.
Boochani first traveled to New Zealand from Papua New Guinea in November on a temporary one-month visa to speak at a literary festival about his book, which details the time he spent at Australia’s notorious offshore detention camp on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.
After his visa expired, he stayed on in the city of Christchurch, choosing to keep a relatively low profile as his case became politicized in New Zealand.
Some questioned why hed been allowed in the country on a temporary visa if hed always intended to stay, and why Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hadnt been told he was coming.
“I dont want to be a politician. I didn’t want to create a challenge in this country,” Boochani said. “I have a simple life, and have been doing work overseas. ”
Boochani confirmed he had previously been recognized as a refugee by the U. S. , although said the process had never been finalized. Under President Donald Trump, the U. S. has been reluctant to accept refugees from certain countries, including Iran.
After Boochani, an ethnic Kurd, fled from Iran he eventually made his way by boat to Australia’s Christmas Island in 2013 and was later held on Manus Island.
Using a smuggled phone and posting to social media, Boochani shone a light on the plight of hundreds of asylum-seekers. He detailed the unsanitary conditions, hunger strikes and violence, as well as deaths caused by medical neglect and suicide.
He said he felt a responsibility to film and write, to challenge the system and expose what was going on.