Republished piece that I wrote on 21 August 2003: "How Australian authorities are refining their successful cover-up of the names of SIEV X victims" - analysis by Tony Kevin

I am republishing on my website this important piece I wrote and emailed out a year ago on 21 August 2003, before my site was opened in October. It offers detailed reporting on one key aspect of the SIEV X story. Now that my book "A Certain Maritime Incident" is published, I can see how significant this piece was and how it is worth preserving, with a few additional contemporary annotations in square-bracketed italics.

It addresses a key question in the SIEV X history - what is the public history of the concealment of the lists of names of deceased and survivors on SIEV X ? TK, Canberra 17 August 2004.

 

Here is an annotated history of how the official Australian system is avoiding making public the list of names of the dead on SIEV X – a list that it certainly has in its possession. This is another example of how the SIEV X cover-up is becoming more confident and blatant, as time passes and official authorities successfully fend off Senate questions.

An original series of PM and C emails around 23-24 October 2001 contains precious clues to the information about those who died on SIEV X that was officially available at that time. See www.sievx.com – "Documents" , transcript of an email from Andrew Metcalfe (DIMA) to Susan Ball et al, 24 October 2001, 'Re: Boat lost at sea' in 'PM & C Email traffic', Senate Select Commitee on A Certain Maritime Incident, item no. 81 ~ scan of original document - p1, p2, p3.

Note: this series of emails appears in that document in reverse chronological order. The following summary extracts the data chronologically.

The first DIMA email from Jakarta (23 October, 11:47 am) reported:

"360 passengers are assumed to have drowned" … "reportedly mostly Iraqis" … "We are investigating whether any of them were already know to UNHCR and/or IOM. We hope to have further details in the course of the day".

The next email in the series, also sent on the morning of 23 October, says:

"The below is additional information received from [blacked out] who just interviewed two of the survivors in Bogor.

Among the whole original group (418 pax) according to the sources, approx 210 were known to UNHCR and /or IOM, of these approx. 30 were refugees, most of them from Kalmana (Irian Jaya) cases.

[TK 17.8.23004 - who were "the sources" - certainly not the two interviewed survivors - they would not have known that there were 418 passengers, or that approx 210 were known to UNHCR and/or IOM, or that of these approx 30 were refugees. That information had to come from other sources]

Approx 150 children, 150 women and 118 men out of the original group.

… [blacked out] is collecting the name list as many as possible and will go to visit those at the hospital ..".

On 24 October at 09.26, Greg Mills (Jakarta Embassy) sends the following update

" … The numbers are still moving around particularly in respect of the nationality break-up of the passengers although there is now some consistency about the overall number involved compared to the stories going around on Monday evening ….

Richard Danziger [Head, IOM Office , Jakarta] advises that today they will begin the task of documenting personal details of the survivors and will then start trying to piece together details of those who drowned. We will forward this information once available …"

No list of names of the dead was ever made public subsequently, either by IOM, UNHCR or any Australian authority.

We also have independent public confirmation that survivors were in those initial days trying to compile their own list of the dead from talking to one another. There is a newspaper photograph of a survivor (12 year old Zaynab Alrimahi) holding up a handwritten list the survivors were preparing (www.sievx.com, "SIEV X passengers Database" reproduces this photograph of Zaynab with her list.

MY COMMENTS:

It would have been very hard for survivors to compile a full list of passengers from their personal knowledge, and any list they compiled would have been full of gaps. Certainly they would not have known that "418" were on board or that "approx 210" were known to UNHCR and/or IOM or that of these "approx 30" were refugees. That sort of precise name-by-name data can only have come from somebody checking off names in IOM and UNHCR files against a known full list of passengers.

So it is clear that from the beginning, authorities had access to a full passenger list that was not available to survivors. Quassey would not have given to any passenger such a list of passengers – he would have had no reason to. In any case, such a document would not have survived the sinking.

But clearly, somebody by 23 October 2001 had given such a full passenger list to UNHCR, IOM and presumably to the Australian authorities – if indeed the list did not come from Australian authorities to IOM and UNHCR to facilitate their enquiries.

This list can only have come to these agencies, directly or indirectly, from a person or people in direct contact with someone within the Quassey people smuggler group. There is no other possible explanation.

See SBS program "Five Mysteries of SIEV X", Ghassan Nakhoul, August 2002, pages 10-11 in English translation text, on www.sievx.com. Survivor Rami Akram reports that Quassey’s three Middle Eastern associates Khaled Ishnak Dawud, Maysam and Maysam’s brother Maysar (surnames not known) handled most of the negotiations with passengers. Khaled made the deals, and Maysam recorded them in his book.

If my thesis is correct that Quassey’s voyage was a disruption operation organised by Indonesian police people smuggling disruption teams who were in working contact with Australian agencies engaged in organising disruption, this explains how easily the authorities could have obtained a complete passenger list immediately after the tragedy. Someone – Quassey, Khaled, Maysam or Maysar - simply photocopied the list out of Maysam’s book and gave this information to (someone who then passed it on to?) Australian officials, IOM or UNHCR.

This also would explain why Australian authorities have refused over the past two years to provide the full list of names: because they fear it would give rise to awkward questioning as to how they obtained the list and from whom. The 23-24 October DIMA emails, and the Nakhoul information from survivors, are the only precious clues we have that such a list exists. Without those two sets of data, the cover-up would be seamless.

 

Starting in October 2002, at the request of Marg Hutton and me, Senators began to seek information from Australian authorities on the names of the dead. Here is the full Hansard record so far of non-disclosure, set out in relevant extracts from Senate Estimates Committees hearings and replies to Questions on Notice.

Legal and Constitutional Estimates, 20 November 2002, Attorney General’s Portfolio, Australian Federal Police

Senator Collins - I am also interested in what work the AFP officers in Indonesia may have done to ascertain details of the number of victims in the SIEVX tragedy and details of who they were. Is any of that information with anyone present from AFP at the moment?

Commissioner Keelty - It is not with me tonight, but we will endeavour to get that back to the committee.

Senator Collins - Okay, then let me be a bit more precise on that point as well. We understand from an email within DIMIA that the UNHCR and/or IOM on 24 October last year were aware of approximately 210 of the people involved in this tragedy. I would like to know what knowledge the AFP has as to the individuals that may have been victims of this tragedy, and what role the AFP played in collecting that information.

Commissioner Keelty - We will get an answer for you.

Senator Collins - There has been some questioning as to whether there was and is a list of the passengers. It is reasonably understood that these ships never included manifests, but survivors obviously were aware of a certain number of the passengers. With the AFP involved in some of the interviews with survivors, both at the time and then later in Australia and/or in the process of building cases against Quassey and others, I would like to know what knowledge you have of any lists of those that were involved, and the status of those lists.

Commissioner Keelty - We will provide an answer to the committee.

 

Senate Estimates Committee, AFP, Answers to Questions on Notice QoN 56:

Senator Collins asked the following question at the hearing of 20 November 2002:

d) I would like to know what knowledge the AFP has as to the individuals that may have been victims of this tragedy, and what role the AFP played in collecting that information.

e) I would like to know what knowledge you have of any lists of those that were involved, and the status of those lists.

I am advised that the answer to the honourable Senator's question is as follows:

d) The AFP's knowledge of the victims of the tragedy is based on enquiries including interviews with survivors, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) and the Indonesian National Police.

e) Following the sinking of SIEV X, the AFP became aware of three lists which detail passengers purported to have boarded the vessel, those that disembarked the vessel shortly after it commenced its journey, and those that survived the tragedy. It is the AFP's understanding that the lists emanated from the IOM, DIMIA and AFP enquiries.

[This is interesting to re-read now. Answer (d) refers to the Indonesian National Police being a source of information about lists of victims. Answer (e) says that the lists "emanated from "IOM, DIMIA and AFP enquiries". Combining these answers we see a picture consistent with a scenario under which AFP or DIMIA or the AFP/DIMIA People Smuggling Strike Team representatrives in Jakarta would have obtained these lists from Indonesian National Police. Which in turn raises the question - who did Indonesian National Police get these lists from ? This question supports the thesis that Quassey's syndicate either worked for, or had been penetrated by, INP SIU disruption units. TK, 17.8.2004]

 

Legal and Con Senate Hansard, 10 February 2003, pp. 98-111

Senator Collins - .. I have two issues remaining. One relates to an answer to a question on notice from last estimates about lists of those who boarded SIEVX, those who got off SIEVX early, those who survived the sinking and those who died in the sinking of SIEVX. You indicated in a response to a question that you were aware to some extent of that information. That was more fruitful than my informal contacts with DIMIA. I would like to be provided with a copy of any list that is available in relation to those issues. If there are reasons why some components of that material cannot be made publicly available, I would be interested in why that might be or why there is any difference between the people who were killed in that tragedy and, for instance, those who were killed in the Bali tragedy.

Mr Keelty - Was the question 56(d)?

Senator Collins - Sorry, I skipped a page. The answer to question 56(e) reads: Following the sinking of SIEV X, the AFP became aware of three lists which detail passengers purported to have boarded the vessel, those that disembarked the vessel shortly after it commenced its journey, and those that survived the tragedy.

Mr Keelty - Are you seeking copies of the lists?

Senator Collins - Yes.

Mr Keelty - Can I take that on notice? I need to know what is on the list and what the origin of the information was, to ensure that it is not material that might be presented before a court, and any other caveats.

Senator Collins - Yes.

Mr Keelty - If I can, I will provide that to you.

 

Senate Estimates Committee, AFP, QoN 121

Answers in response to Senator Collins questions to AFP in Senate L and C Committee 10 February 2003, provided to the Senate on 27 March 2003:

Senator Collins asked the following question at the hearing of 10 February 2003:
After the sinking of the SIEV X, the AFP became aware of three lists which detail passengers purported to have boarded the vessel, those that disembarked the vessel shortly after it commenced its journey, and those that survived the tragedy. Please provide a copy of these lists.

I am advised that the answer to the honourable Senator's question is as follows:

Copies of two of those lists are attached. One list represents those people who disembarked the vessel approximately five kilometres from the point of departure (as outlined in DFAT cable of 23 October 2001).

The other list is in two parts, and details those who survived the sinking, with another page indicating which of those survivors came to Australia, provided by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.

It is believed that these lists were compiled by the International Office for Migration and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. A third list was provided to the AFP from a confidential source after the vessel sank. Provision of any details of that list would compromise that source. It may also compromise a current ongoing investigation in Indonesia. The list purports to contain some details of passengers, but its veracity has not been tested.

[It would now seem a reasonable surmise that that this third list was the full passenger boarding list, as obtained from the Indonesian National Police source identified as a source in the earlier AFP answer part (e) to QoN56 ( text above). TK, 17.8.2004]

 

Extract from Senate Hansard, 11 August 2003, pages 13041-2, Justice and Customs: Indonesia (Question No. 1229)

Senator Brown asked the Minister for Justice and Customs, upon notice, on 27 February 2003:

(3) Does Mr Keelty know:

the name of the vessel known as SIEV X; and

the names of the victims who died in the sinking of SIEV X?

Senator Ellison:The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(3) (a) No

(b) Ongoing enquiries with survivors are providing details which will assist in the identification of victims who died in the sinking.

A list was provided to the AFP from a confidential source after the vessel sank. Provision of any details of that list would compromise that source. It may also compromise a current ongoing investigation in Indonesia. The list purports to contain some details of passengers, but its veracity has not been tested.

The AFP believes it is unlikely that a full and comprehensive list of those who boarded SIEV X or those who subsequently drowned will ever be available.

 

MY COMMENTS:

The bolded sections in the final two answers on notice, to Senators Collins and Brown, are highly suggestive of what is being withheld by Senator Ellison and the AFP, and why. Reading between the lines of these texts, one may reasonably conclude the following:

There certainly is a complete list of passengers who boarded SIEV X in the possession of Australian authorities – and this list was in their possession just a few days after the vessel sank.

The stated reason for non-disclosure is that the list came to AFP " from a confidential source" and that providing any details "would compromise that source". Of course it would - because the original source can only have been a person or persons within Quassey's group of people smugglers.

"The list purports to contain some details of passengers, but its veracity has not been tested". Clearly, its veracity can never be tested until it is publicly released so that survivors can check it off against their own memories of who was on board. But AFP says the list cannot be publicly released …. Catch 22.

"The AFP believes it is unlikely that a full and comprehensive list of those who boarded SIEV X or those who subsequently drowned will ever be available". Of course not – because the AFP which holds these lists is afraid to make them publicly available, precisely because to do so will reopen potentially incriminating public questions as to how the Australian authorities got the complete passenger list and from whom.

"It may also compromise a current ongoing investigation in Indonesia". This is yet another example of the excuse so often employed by AFP in the CMI and subsequently, to avoid potentially incriminating SIEV X disclosures that might put the questionable working methods and liaisons of its own disruption program into question.

In what other major public tragedy – New York Trade Centre, Bali bombing – could the victims’ names not be released for such spurious reasons?

Surely it should be evident how professionally improper, and how grossly insulting to the human dignity of the victims’ families, are these answers from the AFP and Senator Ellison?

And now we learn from the reply to Senator Brown that Senator Ellison and the AFP are confident that they can keep this claimed "ongoing investigation" underway for ever, and thus deny publication of the names for as long as they like. They can shelter behind this alleged ongoing investigation for as long as it suits them.

And it is clear what a phoney investigation it is – see previous extensive coverage on www.sievx.com of the smoke-and-mirrors "pursuit" of Abu Quassey and Khaled Daoed.

Tony Kevin, Canberra, 21 August 2003 (as republished on www.tonykevin.com with italicised annotations on 17 August 2004)

Sources:

Hansard, CMI documents, and "Five Mysteries " references as above.

Commentary articles by Marg Hutton on www.sievx.com :

"We Need To Know Their Names’, 31 October 2002

http://www.sievx.com/archives/2002_10-11/20021031.shtml

" List Of SIEVX Survivors Provided To Asylum Seekers On Manus Island But Not To Australian Senate", 3 June 2003

http://www.sievx.com/archives/2003_05-06/20030603.shtml

"The Anonymous Dead", 19 August 2003

http://www.sievx.com/archives/2003_07-08/20030819.shtml