Australian rejects help to get out of Thai cell

A Melbourne man who has been living in a crowded Bangkok immigration jail cell for more than four years is not accepting help from the Australian Government to return home.

A Melbourne man who has been living in a crowded Bangkok immigration jail cell for more than four years is not accepting help from the Australian Government to return home.

61-year old Colin Hansch has told Thai authorities that he would rather stay in jail than return to Australia, in spite of the fact that he has only a mat to sleep on and gets a small serve of rice and soup daily. He said that he hasn’t been to Australia since thirty years and does not want to go there as there is nothing to go back to.

Mr. Hansch, who is a computer engineer left Australia decades ago, is worried that he will not be able to get a passport to travel overseas if he accepts the offer.

He said that he thinks that Australia does not want to give him passport as they don’t want to set a precedent giving a passport to somebody while they are in custody. It is believed that Mr. Hansch wants that he can travel to Malaysia or Cambodia.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said that the Australian embassy in Bangkok has offered to issue a limited Australian travel document to Mr. Hansch in order to allow him to return to Australia immediately. However, the spokesperson said that Mr. Hansch has declined to accept the offer on several occasions.

Since 2004, Mr. Hansch has been detained at the Bangkok’s Immigration Centre, which is near the Australian embassy.

He was transferred there, supposedly pending deportation, after serving in Bangkok jail for two years for assault causing serious bodily harm that related to a dispute with a bar girl at Pattaya.

Mr. Hansch shares a cell on the second floor of the immigration centre with up to hundred illegal immigrants.

The spokesperson of the department said that Australian consular had provided assistance to Mr. Hansch while he was in jail and at the immigration centre.

Mr. Hansch was a computer engineer for twelve years for a US company in Thailand. He was a computer engineer in the US and also in South Australia.

The spokesperson said that Thai authorities have informed the embassy that Mr. Hansch is subject to deportation after the completion of his criminal sentence and must travel directly to Australia.

There are more than 25 Australians among thousands of foreigners being held in Thai jails, most of them for offences related to drug.