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British adventurer held in 'rat infested' jail after shipwreck

Source
The Telegraph (UK) - June 28, 2010

Bonnie Malkin, Sydney – Anthony Corbyn, who holds dual British and Australian nationality, was attempting to sail from Australia to the Philippines as part of a bid to circumnavigate the globe, when his yacht the Shiseido hit a coral reef ten days ago.

Mr Corbyn, 65, made it to shore, but his passport and other identity documents were lost at sea. Authorities in West Papua are suspicious of unaccredited arrivals due to a long-running separatist campaign.

Doubting Mr Corbyn's account of events, they placed him in a detention centre in the town of Merauke.

The author, who has written two non-fiction books about his relationships with married women, now faces a long wait while authorities verify his claims.

Joko Prihadi, Merauke District Police Chief, said Mr Corbyn would stay in detention until investigators were satisfied that his story was true.

"We went and examined the ship and it seems like it sank through natural causes, like he said," Mr Prihadi told the Australian Associated Press.

"But we need to dig a bit deeper, there could be some political agenda there. So we need him to stay until we can conclude what really happened."

In 2008, five Australians who arrived in West Papua without the proper travel documents after a joy flight from the Torres Strait Islands were detained in Merauke for 10 months. Mr Prihadi has refused to put a timetable on the investigation into Mr Corbyn's story.

Friends of the adventurer, who hails from Wiltshire but now lives in Cairns, have expressed fears for his health. Mr Corbyn has described the conditions in the immigration centre as "rat, cockroach and mosquito infested".

"The entrance has heavy iron gate locked at night, iron bars also incorporated into window frames," he told AAP. "Movement restricted to compound or with officer as an 'escort' when shopping for food."

Mr Corbyn said he had been interrogated for eight hours by 11 Indonesian police officers, only two of whom spoke English.

Dorset resident Antoinette Khodabandeh, who was due to fly to the Philippines to meet Mr Corbyn until his journey was cut short, said she was extremely worried.

"I'm really worried that he is going to come out of there in a coffin. My fear is that this is going to drag on and they are going to told him in order to extract money."

Keith Mortimer, one of the Australians detained in Merake in 2008, said that conditions in the detention centre were "worse than you can imagine". "He has to assimilate with the local population," he said. "If he doesn't he will die."

The Australian government have said that they are providing consular assistance to Mr Corbyn and hope that the situation can be resolved quickly.

One of Mr Corbyn's books is called Lothario's Diary, and details his exploits with married women.

In an "About the author" section, he describes himself as a "happy adventurer who visited, worked and lived in 86 countries before sailing around the world in my own yacht".

"I have been face to face with a lion, confronted by a silver-backed gorilla, charged by a bull elephant and stood firm against overwhelming enemy odds while armed with a rifle," he wrote. "The only thing that turns my legs to jelly is a woman's beguiling smile."

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