Airlifted Iranian asylum seeker ‘brain dead’
An Iranian asylum seeker has been declared brain dead and is likely to have his life support turned off, refugee advocates claim.
Hamid Kehazaei, 24, was airlifted from Papua New Guinea to Brisbane last week for emergency treatment for a life-threatening skin infection.
Now, according to Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul, the man has been declared brain dead.
A legal guardian will discuss turning off life support with his family in Iran on Wednesday.
The family have indicated they wish to have his organs donated.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to comment on the man’s medical condition, saying “the individual has not died”.
“Out of respect to the family of the individual further details are not able to be provided.”
Mr Kehazaei developed septicaemia from an infection which spread from a cut foot.
Initially he was transferred to a Port Moresby hospital where he had a heart attack before being sent to Brisbane.
Mr Rintoul claimed asylum seekers on Manus Island sometimes had to walk through raw sewage.
“Hamid is a victim of the shocking conditions and medical neglect on Manus Island,” he said.
Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is concerned Mr Kehazaei was medivaced too late and has demanded an explanation from Mr Morrison.
Mr Kehazaei was among the first group of asylum seekers transferred to the Manus Island detention centre following a resettlement deal the Rudd government struck with PNG in 2013.
A spokeswoman from the Mater Hospital declined to comment citing patient privacy.