http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_2138000/2138534.stm

Friday, 19 July, 2002, 11:47 GMT 12:47 UK
Man 'helped asylum boys flee camp'
The brothers have been sent back to a detention centre
An Irish backpacker has been charged with helping two
boys to flee from Australia's controversial Woomera
refugee detention centre.

The two boys - whose asylum claim was rejected at the
UK consulate in Melbourne on Thursday - have now
been flown back to Woomera, 1,000 kilometres (620
miles) from the city.

Jonathon Joseph O'Shea, a 22-year-old graphic artist,
was charged in connection with their escape. He has been travelling in Australia on a one-year working visa.

The boys - 14-year-old
Alamdar Bakhtiyari and his
brother Muntazer, 12 - fled
from Woomera three weeks
ago.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has said they are
not refugees. He also cast doubt on their claim to be
from Afghanistan, saying instead they were Pakistanis.

'Family lied'

Their father Ali sought asylum at the German consulate
in Melbourne on Friday but his request was also
rejected.

He had travelled there from Sydney hoping to see his
sons, but they were moved before he got there.

He has been living on a temporary protection visa in
Sydney granted by the Australian Government.

But Mr Ruddock says the
family have lied about
their background and the
visa will be removed.

The boys' mother and her
three other children remain
in detention at Woomera.

Mr Bakhtiyari was visibly
distraught on learning that
his sons had already left
Melbourne.

"I have been disappointed
and I'm angry and my
heart is broken," he was
quoted as saying by the Melbourne Age newspaper.

Asylum 'jail'

On Thursday, the boys' lawyer, Eric Vadarlis, said they
had been "very, very disturbed" at the Woomera centre
and considered it a jail.

Alamdar had even tried to commit suicide in the camp,
where he arrived in January 2001 with his mother and
siblings, Mr Vadarlis said.

The father arrived in
Australia separately and
was allowed a temporary
visa, but that did not
permit him to sponsor his
family, who claim to be
Afghan refugees, to leave
the Woomera camp.

Britain quickly rejected the
boys' claims for asylum,
with a Home Office
spokeswoman saying there
were no grounds to even
consider them.

"Australia is a signatory to
the UN Convention on
Refugees, so there are no
grounds for anyone to
seek asylum in Britain from Australia," she said.

The case was a matter for the Australian authorities,
she added.

Camp conditions

The boys are believed to have been among a group of
more than 30 who broke out from South Australia's
Woomera detention centre last month.

Australia is home to about 1,200 asylum seekers,
mainly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, who are
kept in remote camps while their claims are assessed.

There have been regular protests about the camps'
conditions.

The Australian medical profession has condemned the
detention of children like the two Bakhtiyari boys, with
psychiatrists warning of the psychological damage that
can result when children are locked up.