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Operator of Australia's PNG detention center criticized for boxing ring donation

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

The private operator of Australia's Manus Island detention center in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has donated a mobile boxing ring to the community.

But the move has been criticized by refugee advocates because local staff remain accused of bashing Reza Barati, an Iranian asylum seeker, to death there last year.

The donation came to light in the Australian High Commission's monthly newsletter.

"The mobile boxing ring will assist the Boxing Association to stage boxing tournaments in all places in Manus," said the newsletter caption.

One of the two men arrested for the murder of Reza Barati in February last year was a competitive amateur boxer.

Refugee advocates worry about the message the boxing ring sends to local staff, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"Given the levels of endemic violence on Manus Island, and the alleged involvement of a boxer in the death of Reza Barati, Transfield's gift of a mobile boxing ring to stage tournaments is inappropriate and in poor taste," Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said. Endi