An Iranian asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 44 days in Perth has begun accepting fluids.
The 25-year-old man who fled Iran four years ago has been in a critical condition in the Royal Perth hospital for 10 days.
The immigration minister Peter Dutton told ABC Radio National on Tuesday that the man was accepting medical assistance and was on a path to recovery.
“Obviously he has got a long way to go, but the advice that I have is that he has decided to take fluids or food and he is speaking to his case manager and his medical team at Perth hospital on that basis,” Dutton said.
“It was obviously a very perilous position, it’s a very emotive issue and I’m very confident that the doctors will be able to work with him, as well as case managers from the department.”
Refugee advocates say the man began refusing food at Yongah Hill detention centre, near Perth, after attempts to appeal against the government’s rejection of his refugee status were also rejected.
Doctors at Royal Perth hospital last week feared the man would not survive more than a few days if he continued to refuse fluids. Guardian Australia understands they described his condition as lucid but extremely weak.
It is understood the man began accepting fluid and nutrition on Monday. Over the weekend he had continued to refuse to see most visitors.
He is still being monitored closely due to the risk of cardiac arrest following the lengthy period without nutrition.
Dutton said he had reviewed the man’s case in light of his hunger strike, and remained “thoroughly convinced that the decision that has been made is the right one.”
“The difficulty is if we allow people to self-harm or to refuse food or fluid and that somehow that would twist my arm and I would issue a visa with work rights, which is what he’s after … if I was to succumb to that pressure the strong advice from my department – and I have no doubt in accepting that advice at all – is that I would have hundreds if not thousands of people on hunger strikes tomorrow,” he said.
Dutton said he looked into the possibility of force-feeding the man before he voluntarily broke his hunger strike on Monday, but said such interventions would be ruled as common assault under Western Australian law.
Victoria Martin from the Refugee Rights Action Network of WA told Guardian Australia the man decided to accept fluids on Monday after receiving messages of support from people in the Australian community, and he had thanked everybody for their concern.
Martin said the man had also received a number of offers of legal assistance, and would continue to fight to be able to stay in Australia.
“Hopefully his condition has not already deteriorated beyond the point of recovery,” she said.
Dutton said the offer from the immigration department remained just to repatriate the man back to Iran, where his supporters say he will face persecution.
But because Iran will not accept forced repatriations, he could remain in detention indefinitely.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the government should urgently review the man’s case.
“I welcome the news that [he] has begun accepting food, but we must not forget why he was driven to such lengths,” Hanson-Young said. “This man chose to end his life in immigration detention rather than return to his homeland.
“Peter Dutton must act compassionately and request that his department review [this man’s] case immediately.”
