After almost seven years in an Australian detention centre, Amirhossein Sahragard has finally found a new home in Canada as the result of a private sponsorship program.
He fled Iran by boat, but earlier that year, the Australian government had ruled that it would not accept refugees that came by boat. Kept in Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island facility, he was subjected to riots, beatings, several bouts of illnesses, and witnessed other detainees being killed.
After hearing about Sahragard’s story, University of Toronto staff member Stephen Watt found four of Sahragard’s distant cousins to help sponsor him—the Canadian government requires five people, who raise a total of $16,500, to privately sponsor a refugee. The sponsorship process took two years, and was finalized in October. Speaking to CTV News about his sponsors, Sahragard said, “There’s no word that I can give to say thank you and appreciate what they were doing for me.” Sahragard is staying with an Iranian refugee couple, and wants to teach children sports or take up personal training.
He is still haunted by his experience of the detention centre and is speaking to the media on behalf of those still trapped there: “The only thing people want there is a life (in a) safe country where they could live. The only thing they, me and my friends did wrong was go to Australia by boat.”