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A Kurdish asylum seeker won one of the most important Australian literature awards, the Victorian Literature Award.
However, the Iranian Kurd Behrouz Boochani was unable to accept the award personally in Melbourne because it is kept on the Isle Manus.
Boochani won the prize, which comes with a monetary price of $ 73,000, for his book "No friend only the mountains: Manus prison writing". This was written in Farsi while he was detained in the detention center of the island, which was closed.
It includes text messages sent mainly by WhatsApp to the translator.
The book has also been judged as the best non-fiction book.
Boochani has been living on Manus Island since 2013 and, like all inmates, he is not allowed to leave.
"It's a paradoxical feeling," Boochani said.
"I do not want to celebrate this feat as long as I still see a lot of innocent people suffering around me," he told The Age. "Give us freedom, we have not committed any crime, we are only asking for asylum."
He fled Iran, threatened to be arrested by the authorities for his work as a journalist.
Boochani tried twice to reach Australia by boat from Indonesia.
At the first attempt, the boat sank and Boochani was rescued by Indonesian fishermen.
In July 2013, his boat, which had 75 asylum seekers, was intercepted by the Australian Navy and he was transferred to the detention center of the Isle of Manus.
Manus is a territory owned by Papua New Guinea, but Canberra has been using it since 2013 to send asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.
This practice has been denounced as a violation of the human rights of migrants and detainees.
Many congratulated Boochani on Twitter but also criticized "hypocrisy" and "cognitive dissonance" of Australia.
"I think it's so good that Behrouz Boochani won the VPLA tonight, but I'm also struggling with the cognitive dissonance of a nation celebrating the history, the work, the world, and the world. a man we are torturing, "wrote author Omar Sakr on Twitter.
"[He] is still imprisoned and kept stateless by us. We must release them. "
I find it so good that Behrouz Boochani won the VPLA for fiction tonight, but I am also fighting against the cognitive dissonance of a nation that celebrates history, the work of a man we are still torturing. Who is still imprisoned and kept stateless by us. We must release them
– Omar Sakr (@OmarjSakr) January 31, 2019
"Does anyone else see the shocking hypocrisy of a country that applauds a literary feat and tortures the author of the other?" another wrote.
Does anyone else see shocking hypocrisy when a country applauds a literary feat from one side and tortures its author of the other?
Congratulations @ BehrouzBoochani on an exceptional achievement.#Manus #EndIndefiniteDetention– Leo Jai (@lionheartleojai) January 31, 2019
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