Coming from a family involved in politics and belonging to the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan, Riz Wakil left his country and became a refugee when he was eighteen years old. Arriving in Australia, he was held for nine months in Curtin Detention Centre. His story, written by Zac Darab, was included in the anthology Dark Dreams: Australian Refugee Stories.
Since his release, Wakil has married and has operated a printing business in Sydney. In 2006, Wakil was mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald's coverage of a report on child refugees by Mary Crock, Seeking Asylum Alone. In 2010, Wakil again attracted media attention when the activist group GetUp funded a charity auction bid for a surfing lesson with Opposition leader Tony Abbott, an opportuny Wakil said he would use to inform Abbott of the circumstances of refugees. In 2011, Wakil contributed to a Sydney Morning Herald article titled 'Is It Time to Talk to the Taliban', at the end of which a note stated that the surfing lesson with Tony Abbott 'is yet to take place'. [Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, 7 August 2006; The Australian, 17 June 2010; The Drum Unleashed (ABC online) 18 June 2010; Sydney Morning Herald, 16-17 April, 2011 News Review p. 13]
