Peter Qasim (Urdu: پیٹر قاسم) was the longest-serving detainee in Australian immigration detention, having been detained there for over seven years.
He was detained at Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre[1] before being transferred to an Adelaide psychiatric facility.
[1] In personal accounts Qasim described escaping from his home village of Gopalla in India, into Pakistan, then through Singapore and Papua New Guinea onto Australia.
This lack of evidence, and numerous unsuccessful attempts to validate Qasim's story were primarily responsible for his prolonged period of detention.
In 2005, Qasim was 31 years old, and was held at Baxter Detention Centre until, on 9 June 2005, he was moved to a psychiatric hospital.