Home is Here: Abbas Ghezzy

When I was just 14 years old, my family had to flee Iran. We came by sea and didn’t know if we would survive the journey but we took that chance to seek a safer life in Australia.

For the first few years we were moved through detention centres until we were able to settle in Melbourne.

I started Dandenong High School in Year 11 and it felt like we had finally found our home. We all felt hopeful for the future. But In late 2018, everything changed. We had our interviews with immigration and our protection claims were rejected. Then in 2020 while we were waiting for our appeal, Covid hit and things got even worse.

We couldn’t get Medicare and Centrelink. We couldn’t work or get any Government assistance, and we struggled to pay rent. This put a lot of pressure on my Dad.

My younger brother also went downhill and it was really hard to watch. He had been in detention so young, and had moved so much, he would cry a lot. Eventually he was diagnosed with PTSD.

My Dad also got really sick. He said he was being tortured here, not able to support his family and not knowing what his future held. He was mentally struggling. He was exhausted.

Eventually he made the decision to go back to Iran and take my brother with him. It wasn’t an easy decision. Before we left Iran, his political activities had made him a target. He knew it might not be safe but he felt like he had no other choice.

I couldn’t leave with them, I had made my life here with my girlfriend and friends I cared about.

When they were back in Iran, I was involved in a protest in Canberra for the Ahwazi (an Arab minority group), speaking out for our people back in Iran who are facing discrimination and injustice by the Iranian government.

Not long after that, my Dad was taken into custody by Iranian authorities and questioned as to what I was doing protesting. They beat him and left him cut and bruised.

One week later he went missing. He has now been missing for one year, and no one has heard from him.

I can only fear the worst for what has happened to my Dad. And know that if I am forced to go back to Iran this is what I will be facing. I will face imprisonment or persecution or worse.

I don’t understand why the Australian Government has punished my family in this way. We did nothing wrong. All we wanted was to be safe, be together and to rebuild our lives. Now our family is broken. And we aren’t alone.

There are at least 8000 people like me with children and families who want to be reunited with their relatives, and to have some certainty for their future in Australia. People like me who came here as children, who have grown up here, who love so many things about this great country. All we want is the right to live an ordinary life, to work hard and build a family here. But we can’t while political leaders continue to use us as scapegoats and while this system continues to punish us.

I don’t believe this is what other Australians want, it’s not the fair go I know my friends, my community and other Australians believe in.

That is why I am joining others to peacefully protest and appeal to our political leaders for compassion. It is the only thing I can do for myself and my family. It is our hope that the new Minister for Immigration will stand up for better treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum, regardless of how they got here. That he will recognise how much we can offer to our communities and society if given the chance. That he will recognise we belong here, and that our home is here.