#1 Aziz, Not a Boat Number

As a journalist, Michael Green had spoken to a lot of people who’ve been held in detention centres. Some were there for a few weeks, and others for as long as six years.

But he’d never spoken to someone who was still inside a detention centre, and that’s because Australia’s immigration department, and the governments of Nauru and Manus, have traditionally made it very difficult for journalists to communicate with detainees. Visitors aren’t allowed to make recordings, and the people who came by boat weren’t initially allowed to use their own phones.

‘Same day – or different day – same shit. But still alive.’

Aziz

Then, early last year, Michael was given the phone number of a man who was still in detention on Manus Island. His name was Aziz. He was from Sudan, and he had a smuggled phone. But that was all Michael knew. So he sent him a text message saying hello, and he asked if we could speak on the phone. Aziz wrote back saying the reception in his room was too weak for calls.

Michael thought they’d have to communicate entirely by text. Then he realised that on WhatsApp, you can send little voice messages that get delivered whenever you’re in range.

And so, in March 2016, Michael and Aziz first made contact.

Transcript

Download a PDF transcript of this episode here.

Further reading

‘Meet the Messenger of Manus, one man trapped in Australia's offshore processing regime’ by Ben Doherty, Guardian, accessed 24 January 2017

‘Broken Men in Paradise’ by Roger Cohen, New York Times, accessed 23 January 2017

‘Not always and only broken: some responses to Roger Cohen’s New York Times article’ by Janet Galbraith with Behrouz Boochani, The Stringer, accessed 23 January 2017

In this episode

Abdul Aziz Muhamat

Michael Green

Our theme music was composed by Raya Slavin. Music used in this episode includes: ‘Mario Bava Sleeps In a Little Later Than He Expected To’ and ‘What True Self? Feels Bogus, Let’s Watch Jason X’ by Chris Zabriskie, ‘Blau’ by Ganger, ‘+’ by Kazumasa Hashimoto, ‘Malá Strana’ by Gui Boratto, ‘Open Melody’ by Lucky Dragons and ‘Headlights’ by Triosk.

More information

The Messenger is a co-production of Behind The Wire and the Wheeler Centre. It’s produced by Michael Green, André Dao, Hannah Reich and Bec Fary, with Jon Tjhia and Sophie Black at the Wheeler Centre.

Narration by Michael Green. Reporting by Abdul Aziz Muhamat. Additional fact checking by the Guardian's Ben Doherty; transcription by Claire McGregor, Celine Yap, Mia Tinkler, Ruby Wawn, Isobel Egan and many more​. This episode was edited and mixed by Bec Fary and Jon Tjhia.

Thank you

Dana Affleck, Angelica Neville and Sienna Merope. Also to Cameron Ford and Madeleine Egan and to Behind the Wire’s many participants and volunteers. Behind the Wire is supported by the Bertha Foundation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.