Fazileh Mansour Beigi

Fazileh Mansour Beigi is a refugee and a member of Iran’s Kurdish ethnic minority, which faces systematic persecution in that country. She started writing while she was an incarcerated single mother of two sons Faribourz and Ali on Nauru to advocate for his children’s life. They came to Australia by boat in 2013.

Mansour Beigi wrote a series of letters between August 2017 and March 2018, pleading for intervention in her son’s mental health. On 15 June 2018, her 26-year-old son Faribourz Karami died on Nauru, reportedly by suicide. She still has not received the result of her son’s autopsy.

July 2018, the body of Fariborz Karami, was flown to Brisbane about where he was buried and donations from anonymous philanthropists in Australia to cover the cost of his funeral. The ABF rejected a request from Fazileh to be allowed to attend her son’s funeral or burial. After significant self-advocacy she finally attended the funeral.

In her letter to the ABF, Fazileh states, “I always told you if any harm befell my children, I wouldn’t remain silent.”