They did it as a form of protest for their detention on Christmas Island! Australia has big problem with ‘boat people’ attempting to get into Australia and this detention facility has been in the news for years. There is probably a much larger story on this somewhere but this is what the Arizona Daily Star is reporting:
Ten asylum seekers at an Australian detention center sewed their lips together to protest delays in processing their refugee applications, as the government warned that protests will not change the outcome of the visa process.
The male asylum seekers have refused medical assistance since sewing their lips together Friday morning at the Christmas Island detention center. They are taking water and sugar.
The incident was part of a larger protest by 160 detainees at the remote center on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean where asylum seekers who illegally enter Australian waters by boat are detained.
For more on Australia’s refugee and asylee issues, visit our category on Australia, here.