This is my eighth Christmas locked up in immigration detention. Next year I hope to celebrate as a free man

I am writing to make people aware of the difficult situation refugees have to endure

December 2017

An article posted on Facebook occupied my thoughts for days.

It was about the Manus Island detention centre for refugees and the horrific conditions there.

I was exiled to that prison in August 2013.

The comments underneath were full of hate towards refugees.

Do the people writing this know that this place was a torture camp?

Have those people ever asked themselves why refugees leave their families and flee their homelands?

This article inspired me to start writing.

I did not…