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A third group of refugees brought to Australia under now-repealed Medevac legislation have been released from immigration detention in Melbourne, a week after 46 fellow detainees were free on temporary visas with little warning.
At least 12 men are believed to have been released from Melbourne s Immigration Transit Accommodation shortly after midday on Thursday, according to advocates, after being granted six-month bridging visas that allow them to live and work in the community.
Advocates say another refugee was released after being transferred from the Park Hotel in Carlton, which has been used as a makeshift immigration detention centre, and two more from other locations.
Craig Foster reflects on Australia Day opportunities and the way forward sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
He would stand by it, for hours some days, to let the air and the noise of the outside world rush in, and to look out at those outside: protesters who came to campaign for his freedom, people walking past oblivious, the slow crawl of cars on now-unhurried streets.
Mostafa Azimitabar by the window in his room inside Melbourneâs Mantra Hotel, where he spent 13 months. Photograph: Moz Azimi
Now, suddenly, he is part of that world.
He is free, with a visa to live in Australia.
Azimitabar â known across the country as Moz Azimi - described his release on Thursday as âthe most beautiful moment of my lifeâ.
On his second day of freedom in Australia, at the start of the Australia Day weekend, Mostafa Azimitabar went to a Jimmy Barnes concert, which he called “the most Aussie experience I could ever imagine”. A member of Iran’s Kurdish minority who fled racist repression in his homeland to seek sanctuary in a safe country, Azimitabar spent 2,737 days detained by Australia. He counted each and every one, shipped capriciously between Christmas Island.
Craig Foster: I am an Australia Day ambassador and support a change in date msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.