OPINION: Just as I think my capacity for surprise has reached its limit, my friend Behrouz Boochani comes up with yet another astonishing story about his life.
It’s been eight months of close friendship, with almost every day of it filled with intriguing tales of the past and the drama of the present.
Contrary to what you might imagine, not every tale is about exile, deprivation or suffering. There are many simple but cherished moments of joy and love in Behrouz’s past which, he tells me, are important sources of solace and balance.
Behrouz, a Kurdish-Iranian recently granted asylum in New Zealand, suffered prolonged incarceration in an Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island where he was held for six years for simply exercising his right to seek refuge from persecution in Iran.
While in detention, he wrote an award-winning book typed entirely on a smuggled phone. The internationally acclaimed work shed light on the brutality of Australia’s offshore asylum system and won him an invitation to speak at Word Christchurch. While here, his friends and supporters urged him to seek asylum in New Zealand, rather than accept a tentative offer of asylum in the politically volatile United States.
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