Olympic hopes dashed by asylum seeker’s visa limbo

  • 2 months ago
One of Australia’s top wrestlers Mustafa Nikqadam can’t represent Australia in the Olympics because of a lifetime visa ban for asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat after 2013.

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00:00Despite being an Australian national champion, Mustafa Nekatam can never represent the country
00:11he calls home in the Olympics.
00:14I feel very sad, it's actually, it's very hard for me.
00:24Wrestling helps me a lot when I was back in detention centre, so it gives me freedom.
00:29So now it's part of my life, so that's why I love wrestling now.
00:35Nekatam arrived in Australia by boat in 2013 after fleeing the Taliban group which killed
00:43his father.
00:44He spent one year in Christmas Island and seven years in the Nauru detention centre.
00:50Now on a bridging visa that must be renewed every six months, he cannot travel overseas
00:56to compete.
00:59For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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