Documenting "No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison" on WhatsApp
Channel: Access Now
Date: 2020-07-30

Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish Iranian writer, journalist, filmmaker and human rights defender who had been imprisoned on Manus Island for over six years. He became one of Australia's most celebrated writers after his book No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison won the prestigious Australian literary award, the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature. 

Behrouz wrote this book, continued his journalism and documenting of abuses while under some of the most extreme conditions. Using his mobile phone, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, he exposed the systematic torture of refugees banished by the Australian Government. The Australian government’s methods of blocking information from Manus varied throughout the years: it included making it illegal for staff and aid workers who worked on the island to bring out information about the conditions of these refugee prisons.   

During his six and a half years of imprisonment Boochani smuggled out writing and film in order to document an important phase in the history of migration to Australia. His book foregrounded the experience of displacement, exile, imprisonment and demonstrated resistance in the face of the highest levels of power. His collaborator and translator, Omid Tofighian, worked with Behrouz and other supporters to gather this information and document abuses and write this book – via a variation of text messages smuggled out of the Island.   

Moderated by Afsaneh Rigot, this talk will provide insight into their story and highlight Behrouz’s asks from the digital rights community in supporting other Manus prisoners, and those in similar context. How can we hold governments and corporations implicated accountable for massive human rights abuses and what our community could do to support their work?  With increasing incarceration of refugees, we must widen these discussions from the lived-experience of activists such as Behrouz Boochani who can teach us so much about methods of resistance.  

Host: ARTICLE 19; Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University