A 33-year-old man from Iran commenced a hunger strike in early November after his refugee status application was denied. Detained at the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre near Darwin, the man spoke with refugee advocates on Friday—day 49 of the hunger strike—informing them that the protest was his only option, as he could not return to his homeland.
The man's situation was first highlighted on Monday, his 45th day of not eating, after his Darwin lawyer, John Lawrence, met with him and subsequently expressed a deep level of concern:
"He has lost 23kgs, he looked sick, he sounded sick, he wasn't able to concentrate particularly well ... The odour that was coming from the poor man from his breath, because he hasn't had any food, quickly filled up the room that we were in."
The Iranian's appeal, lodged with the Refugee Review Tribunal in early 2014, did not go in his favour, and without refugee status, he faces certain torture or death after he is sent home. On Monday, the man was relocated to the male-only area at Wickham Point—the Alternative Place Of Detention (APOD)—where families are held.
Ben Pynt, from the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network, informed ABC news on Monday that "the mental pressure of being inside a very restrictive detention centre" typically led to mental health issues for asylum seekers experiencing protracted periods of detainment. Mr Pynt said that detainees are often directly told that they have no options beyond remaining in detention indefinitely, or returning to their home country.
Friday's situation emerges after 75 asylum seekers engaged in a hunger strike on Christmas Island in the middle of the year—they were joined by seven others who stitched their lips shut—to show solidarity for Iranian asylum seeker Reza Barati, who was killed during the February riots on Manus Island. On that occasion, Serco, the private contractors running the Christmas Island detention centre, forcibly ended the strike.
While the the Australian Medical Association (AMA)'s Dr Robert Parker said on Monday that the man would need to give informed consent to be fed, a human rights lawyer claimed on Friday that legislation "authorises the Department of Immigration to direct doctors to provide medical treatment against the consent of asylum seekers where that medical treatment is necessary to preserve their life or health".
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison—deemed the "most powerful person in the Australian government" in early December, after new migration and maritime laws were passed—did not respond to the Iranian man's predicament in Friday's news outlets. The legal ramifications for Mr Morrison if the man, who was "shaking and "pale" at the end of the week, dies from the strike have not been publicly confirmed.