Save Eaten Fish

Hundreds of people rallied in Melbourne on 18 February to support refugee rights and to denounce the immigration policies of the Trump administration and the Turnbull government.

Addressing the protest, federal Greens MP Adam Bandt said of the fight against racism: “It’s going to be up to every one of us who knows that no matter where you come from, we’re all equal”.

Placards calling for “No walls, no bans, no camps” connected the racist “Muslim ban” executive order of president Trump with the brutal treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in Australian-run detention centres.

Comedian Corinne Grant, speaking on behalf of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, spoke about the union’s campaign to free journalist Behrouz Boochani, actor Mehdi Savari, and the man known as Eaten Fish, from the Manus Island detention centre.

Eaten Fish is the pen name of a 25-year-old award-winning Iranian cartoonist. For more than three years, the Australian government has overseen his incarceration in appalling conditions.

Eaten Fish suffers mental illnesses that have been compounded by his detention. He sometimes scrubs himself until he bleeds. On 31 January, he went on hunger strike. In one message to advocates he said: “I think you should give me the right to die and stop this torture and suffers and pains. I have no energy left to tell my stories to Australians anymore”.

When he decided to break the strike on 18 February, he weighed only 47kg.

There is a growing campaign to save Eaten Fish. Cartoonists and media workers have been leading the way, demanding freedom for their detained colleague.

There is an avalanche of solidarity sketches by cartoonists from across the globe circulating on social media using the hashtags #addafish and #EatenFish.

Last year, Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) gave Eaten Fish its Courage in Editorial Cartooning award. “CRNI believes that his body of work will be recognised as some of the most important in documenting and communicating the human rights abuses and excruciating agony of daily life in this notorious and illegal prison camp”, said the organisation.

On Christmas Eve, Faysal Ishak Ahmed, a 27-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker, died from a seizure after months of medical neglect. This was not the first death on Manus. It is urgent that we build the fight to free Eaten Fish, to close these torture camps and to bring the refugees here, before the Australian government kills another young man seeking protection.

How you can help

Draw a fish and share on social media using #addafish #EatenFish and #BringThemHere. If you work in media, add your name to the union campaign at meaa.org/campaigns/bring-them-here. For more info on the campaign visit eatenfish.com and cartoonistsrights.org.