The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied...

The Afghan ambassador to Australia strongly denied suggestions that asylum seekers sent home had been killed, and threatened legal action against those making such claims. The claims surfaced in a row over around 46 asylum seekers on hunger strike in protest against being held on the Pacific island of Nauru. They were among 284 asylum seekers on the island who have failed in their bids to be granted refugee status. Federal politician Peter Andren said he had received e-mails from several refugee advocates alleging that up to 10 detainees who had been returned to Afghanistan had been killed. "There are suggestions that some of those already sent back have been executed on their return and I'd like the government to investigate that one and to ensure these people are safe and secure and treated humanely in Australia until such times as they can return to their country," he said. Afghan ambassador Mahmoud Saikal released documents attesting to the location of all 20 asylum seekers who arrived in Kabul December 3 and denied they had been persecuted, killed or executed. Such false claims did not help the cause of the asylum seekers in Australia and "also hurts and impedes seriously the process of reconstruction of Afghanistan which bears an inseparable causal effect on the security of the country," Saikal said. Politicians and refugee advocates renewed calls for the Australian government to respond to the hunger strikers, 18 of whom are being treated in hospital. Howard Glenn, director of refugee group A Just Australia, told Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone in a letter that the Nauru detainees had "real fears" about returning to Afghanistan. "We believe that those who thought they stood a chance of returning home safely have already left, and that those left on the island have real fears and solid grounds for protection," Glenn said.