Advocates says asylum seekers 'removed' from PNG camp

Transcript

Refugee advocates say witnesses to a fatal attack on an asylum seeker at Australia's Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea are in extreme danger.

Australia's Refugee Action Coalition says asylum seekers raised the alarm on Monday after Wilson Security guards allegedly removed two of their representatives and another asylum seeker, who has since been returned.

The group's spokesperson, Ian Rintoul, says security seemed to be responding to a routine meeting about access to the internet and phones.

But Mr Rintoul told Amelia Langford the three were also witness to an attack on February 17, when asylum seeker Reza Berati was killed.

IAN RINTOUL: There are very powerful forces on Manus Island that do not want them to give evidence in any court of law about what they have seen. Outside of the detention centre they are vulnerable to the PNG police and to the locals, like we have seen in terms of the attacks that  happened on the 16th and 17th of February - that there is not a high degree of security even in the detention centre itself and if locals and the PNG police are intent on carrying out attacks they can and there is nothing in place on Manus Island to protect them. Outside of the detention centre, particularly if they are in custody of the PNG police, they remain extremely vulnerable. PNG police have been implicated in the attacks on the asylum seekers on the 16th and 17th, in particular on the 17th. Their investigation, their own investigation, has exonerated the PNG police from any involvement contrary to all the established facts from the other inquiries that have taken place. So these people have asked for witness protection both from the PNG government and from the Australian government but that plea has been ignored. So they remain in danger and extremely vulnerable outside the detention centre. We have an extremely worrying situation, quite a dangerous situation, and we need a response from the Immigration Department in Australia very quickly.