A man on Manus Island is live tweeting about exactly what is unfolding, as the 600 men left stranded on the island dig in search of water and await attack.
Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who has been detained on Manus since 2014, is live tweeting from the camp, Huffington Post reports, in the middle of what the United Nations Refugee Agency has declared “an unfolding humanitarian emergency.”
Boochani, who is a novelist and journalist according to his Twitter bio, has also written for The Guardian during his time on the island and has been awarded an Amnesty International Australia media award.
His most recent tweets paint a horrifying picture of the reality in the former government-run detention centre:
After the centre closed on Tuesday last week, the 600 men who refused to leave have been left without food, water or electricity.
Speaking to AAP, Boochani described it as “a war zone,” The Australian reports. “Last night the refugees were in a dark place,” he said. “People were lying down on the floor and were struggling with serious hunger, having not eaten since Tuesday.”
“At the same time, they were struggling with tropical mosquitoes. Now, malaria is a new worry to add to the many other risks the refugees face.”
Russell Crowe is the most recent celebrity to condemn the conditions on Manus Island. After offering to house six of the men stranded, he posted this tweet:
Over the weekend, multiple protests against the government’s treatment of refugees took place across Australia.
