June 22, 2018
A 26-year-old Iranian refugee has died in a prison camp on the island of Nauru after an apparent suicide.
According to the human rights organization, Refugee Action Coalition, the man’s body was found June 9 inside his family’s tent in a detention center.
He is the twelfth person—of several nationalities—to die in Australian offshore detention and the fifth to die on Nauru.
The man’s wife, his severely ill mother and a 12-year-old brother are also being held on Nauru.
Based on a medical report by Australia’s International Health and Medical Services, the man suffered from severe depression after being jailed in Iran when he was 10 years old.
Under Australian policy, no asylum seeker attempting to reach the country by boat is accepted; all are sent to one of two offshore detention centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
The camp in Nauru is home to women, children and families, while the one on the Papua New Guinean island of Manus houses only single men.
In total, about 1,600 people are currently being held in the two camps, with the largest number being Iranians.
Behruz Boochani, an Iranian refugee and journalist held on Manus, said on Twitter the Australian authorities were responsible for the latest death, despite Australia referring the case to the Nauru authorities.
