A human rights advocate has hit out at the treatment of an asylum seeker who was deported to Christmas Island after being treated in Australia for injuries sustained in the detention centre in Papua New Guinea.
The man, known by an alias, Waleed, was injured in a riot at Manus Island, and flown to Australia for treatment.
Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre in Australia, said Waleed has spent three years in centres and still has not had his application for refugee status processed.
He was put on a plane to Christmas Island in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with no notice given to him or his lawyer.
Daniel Webb said authorities in Australia need to rise above the politics and show some compassion.
"The politics around this issue in Australia is incredibly toxic and incredibly cynical. Secretive deportations in the middle of the night, it's an appalling way to treat vulnerable people. But I think however complex the politics, however complex the policy issue, deliberate cruelty to innocent people is never the solution," he said.
