The Iranian asylum, Behrouz Boochani, who is detained in a center run by Australia on the Papua New Guinea island, has won Australia’s most highest literary prize for his book “No Friend but the Mountains,” which he wrote on his mobile phone and published using WhatsApp.
Boochani received the A$ 100,000 prize (about US$ 72,000) after sending his book in Persian to an Australian translator who in turn translated it into English and presented it to the Award Management, which was surprised that the winner is detained and denied entry into Australia.
Boochani has been detained on Manos Island since he was taken from a refugee boat heading to Australia six years ago. He said to the media that he wishes not to celebrate the prize given the difficult conditions suffered by hundreds of refugees from different nationalities on the remote Manos.