For the 199th man on Manus Island

February 13, 2017 Ruth Halbert

Dear Prime Minister,

Here is Behrouz Boochani's latest Facebook post about his contribution to a play written in Iran about Australia's offshore detention regime which is currently being performed in Tehran:

Last night Tatre Shahr, the biggest place for artistic works in Tehran (Iran), was full with an audience who gathered there to witness a theatrical play called "Manus." It was one of the biggest artistic projects about the Australian prisons in Manus and Nauru to date and I had the honour to be a part of it. This play was made on the basis of longterm research about what is happening in these two islands. I think Nazanin Sahamizadeh, who is the director of the play, is a great artist that was sensitive to the inhumanity of our situation and I have deep respect for her. Last night they invited me to participate in the inaugural performance of the work and I was able to talk directly with the audience, actors and Nazanin. It was a big honour for me to read a poem about Manus. This project is nongovernmental and it's only coming from the warm hearts of some intelligent artists. Congratulations to Nazanin and all of the artists who took responsibility for humanity. I hope that I can see all of the "Manus" play in Australia and can talk with people through this artistic language. I hope that at that time we are not here in this prison and can watch the play as free people. I'm glad that this project is recording the history of these Australian prisons like other different kinds of works. It's a message to the politicians that you can not sanitise history and wash your hands of it, the artists and writers are working ceaselessly.

Behrouz Boochani

As Behrouz Boochani says, Mr Turnbull, you cannot sanitise history.