Nauru asylum seeker burns himself in protest

Transcript

An asylum seeker detained by the Australian government on Nauru has set himself on fire in front of staff from the United Nations.

The act of self-immolation followed 39 days of protest by asylum seekers on Nauru and five other suicide attempts by detainees including by a pregnant woman.

Australia has been detaining so called boat people on Nauru since 2001 where asylum seekers including children regularly commit acts of self harm to protest their detention.

Ben Robinson reports.

The latest acts of self-harm were revealed yesterday by a spokesperson for Australia's Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul.

IAN RINTOUL: "There were four attempts last night, attempted suicide. People drinking washing powder. And this morning, there's actually been an attempted self-immolation at Nibok camp. When the UNHCR representatives actually arrived at the camp, there's this Iranian man setting himself alight. He has been very badly burnt and now taken to the Nauru hospital."

Refugees gathered at the hospital from where an Iranian refugee, who didn't want to reveal his name, explained the reasons behind the act of self-immolation he witnessed.

REFUGEE: "I would like to talk about an Iranian refugee whose name is Menzie and he burned himself. So many mental and physical pressures on him, after three years being in prison, he was saying that this is all the problems that all refugees have here, and I can't take it anymore. And by burning myself it will be a good tool for everybody around the world to see how the refugees live here. So he just sacrificed himself by burning himself in front of UNHCR representatives so seriously that even though now I'm at the hospital, doctors said that 80 percent of his body is burned and they're waiting for a jet to evacuate him because it's a very urgent matter."

The Nauru government issued a statement saying the man's condition was critical, and it had requested an immediate medical evacuation. As his friends and family waited for news, the Iranian refugee says a pregnant woman who hanged herself was rushed to the hospital.

REFUGEE: "It just happened right now, her name is Saha, she is pregnant and she just hanged herself in her room and they just bring her here."

BEN ROBINSON: "Do you know if she is alright?"

REFUGEE: "I have no news about her, she is a pregnant lady, even her husband fainted three times because when he entered to the room, when he saw that the lady is already hanged, he just don't have a mental state."

The suicide attempts were timed to coincide with a mission by to Nauru by the Canberra office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It didn't respond to a requests for an interview, but the Iranian refugee says asylum seekers on Nauru have been waiting for three years for the UN to visit and witness their plight.

REFUGEE: "It makes so many people frustrated the absence of UNHCR mission and it's been too late, it's been three years right now. One of the representatives of the UNHCR that I have directly had a meeting with him, he just told me that he has come here to see the problems relating to the lack of development, so they can fill all the gaps so that by then we are able to live here for the next ten years. But his is not logical and fair. There is not any future in Nauru there is not any education, there is not any proper medication. Everyone around here they're just dying every day and waking up tomorrow and tasting the same bitter life by cruelty of the government of Australia."

The refugee says asylum seekers detained on Nauru no longer want to go to Australia, but are seeking shelter in countries like New Zealand that are registered with the UN's refugee agency.