WA: Hunger striking illegals say they will die if not helped

AAP General News (Australia)
02-04-2000
WA: Hunger striking illegals say they will die if not helped

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants in detention in Western Australia's far north are
on a hunger strike, saying they'll die if left to endure the poor conditions at the holding
centre.

One of the detainees, most of whom have arrived in Australia in the past six months
from the Middle East, has said in a hand-written plea smuggled out of the centre that
men, women and children are dying at the detention facility near Derby.

The Immigration Department has confirmed the boatpeople are refusing food, but denies
they're being detained in …