TEHRAN – The Iranian ambassador to Jakarta has said that the Islamic Republic is prepared to facilitate the return of Iranian asylum seekers who have been kept in Indonesian camps for several years planning to move to Australia.

Speaking on Monday, Valiollah Mohammadi Nasrabadi said unofficial statistics show that 700 Iranian nationals were in the camps two years ago.

“But fortunately, today their number has decreased and at present, almost 300 Iranians are living in these camps.”

Emphasizing the many problems that the Iranian asylum seekers are facing in these camps, Mohammadi Nasrabadi said, “If any of these people wants to return to Iran, the embassy will take the needed measures for their return.”

Asylum seekers in Australia have a long history of problems. Successive governments going back to former prime minister John Howard in the 1990s have struggled to deter asylum seekers flocking to its shores. 

The journey for migrants from Iran to Australia is long, expensive and dangerous and they are kept, sometimes for several years, in bad conditions in camps.

SP/PA