Activists are trying to prevent the deportation of an Iraqi refugee, saying he is weak from a recent hunger state and faces persecution.
Protesters from the Refugee Action Coalition have gathered outside the Villawood detention centre in Sydney in an attempt to stop the deportation of “Saeed”.
Saeed came to Australia in 2012, fleeing from Iraq with his brother. They were members of a religious minority and said they feared persecution.
Activists say the brother was granted asylum, but Saeed was not. Saeed has been in detention for four years, and recently began a hunger strike.
He was due to have been deported from Melbourne this week but activists thwarted the move. He was instead driven to Villawood from where campaigners believe the authorities will try again to deport him to Iraq.
Saeed’s lawyer, Alison Battisson, from Human Rights for All, said he had been to hospital three times in the past two weeks due to his hunger strike. She said it had left him in precarious health.
Battisson said she was given no information about Saeed’s whereabouts after he was removed from Melbourne and driven overnight to Sydney on Thursday.
“I was actually quite concerned about his health,” Battisson told Guardian Australia.
“He had no access to me, his lawyer, from about 2.30pm [on Thursday] until he turned up at Villawood at 9am, which I think in Australia is truly extraordinary.”
Battisson said Saeed was confused about what was happening to him.
“He said to me that he was kidnapped out the back, because to him that’s what had happened,” she said.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman, Ian Rintoul, said Saeed had spent four years in detention, but was refused asylum on an administrative technicality.
“Saeed is still weak from his recent hunger strike,” Rintoul said. “It is callous in the extreme of Peter Dutton to try to deport him back to danger.”
Saeed lost an initial bid for asylum, but did not understand that he could appeal. Years later, when he did launch an appeal in the federal court, he was told it had been too long and the court would not consider his appeal.
Protesters remained at Villawood at 4pm.
“We’re gathering at Villawood to say that refugees should be allowed to stay in Australia, and to do everything we can to make sure Saeed isn’t deported,” Rintoul said.
