A disturbing letter, signed by 600 of the 900 Manus Island detainees, has asked Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton to kill them.
The letter, published by human rights lawyer Julian Burnside on his website on Monday, describes the hopelessness Manus Island detainees feel about their situation and outlines possible avenues of mass killing for the Australian government.
The letter was photographed by Vice Magazine and verified by a journalist who contacted its author, known as ‘Mahmud’.
They ask to be drowned by the Australian Navy, gassed, or given a lethal injection as they believe there is no other way to end their suffering. But of course, Australia is "civilised"; it will psychologically torture people so they want to die, but it won't actually kill them. That would be cruel, you see.
There is a name for people who drive people to this level of despair: monsters. And that label can be rightly applied to the entire Australian government. Every death in these gulags is their responsibility - and they should be prosecuted for them.