MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The legislation came into force on Wednesday. Under the new law, workers in immigration detention facilities can be sentenced to up to two years in prison if they make sensitive information about conditions in the detention centers public.
"But for the Government to try to prevent the consultants — and many of them medical officers — from speaking out is very worrying in a modern democracy," Triggs said in an interview given to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Australian immigration policy provides for the mandatory detention of immigrants arriving to the country without valid documents. They remain in custody in detention centers, while authorities clarify the legitimacy of their presence in Australia.
In recent months, dozens of asylum seekers from different detention centers operated on behalf of Australia, both within the country and located abroad on Manus Island and Nauru, have staged protests, including hunger strikes, against inhumane detention conditions.
