Refugees held a night protest outside an Australian-run offshore detention on Nauru on Monday, August 7, demanding safe resettlement as well as answers in the death of an Iranian man on Manus Island.

The demonstrations were held outside Regional Processing Centre 3, where up to 150 refugees, including children, have been residing, many for four years. The gathering was originally planned to protest alleged abuse and inhumane treatment by both the Nauru and Australia governments, as well as by the operation managers subcontracted to run the detention centres on the small Micronesian island.

But following the death of 31-year-old Iranian Hamed Shamshiripour, whose body was found hung from a tree that morning, refugees told Storyful that the protests took a more sombre tone. Both groups of refugees and asylum seekers on Papua New Guinea and Nauru said there was evidence he was murdered by locals and the incident should not be ruled as suicide. Hamed suffered a long battle of mental illness, and reportedly had several mental breakdowns and was not adequately treated for his condition.

Photos circulated around closed network groups run by refugees and activists in Australia showing Hamed’s body hung from a tree in a forest area outside a refugee transit centre in East Lorengau. The photos show the deceased man with a rope around his neck. Groups claimed there were visible wounds around on his body suggesting he was attacked before he was hung. An Iranian journalist and refugee on Manus, Behrouz Boochani, said Hamed had been missing since Saturday.

Refugee Action Collective called on the Australian government to launch an independent inquiry into the death, with planned protests later in the week. Credit: Anonymous via Storyful