Hadi Ahmadi – and the Myth of the ‘People Smugglers' Business Model'

The case of Hadi Ahmadi is one of the highest profi le prosecutions of people smuggling in Australia. Convicted in August 2010 for bringing over 500 asylum seekers to Australia, Mr Ahmadi’s case is one of only a small number of prosecutions involving an organiser of migrant smuggling ventures — unlike the hundreds of cases before Australian courts which involve Indonesian captains and crew working on migrant smuggling vessels. This article explores the case of Mr Ahmadi to shed light into the so-called ‘people smugglers’ business model’, which successive Australian Governments from both sides of politics are determined to ‘crush’. The article examines the facts of Mr Ahmadi’s offending, the criminal proceedings against him, and draws comparison to other organiser cases and to the general patterns of people smuggling prosecutions in Australia. Findings of this research cast doubt over the Government’s rhetoric and its strategies to prevent and suppress migrant smuggling