Lawyers for an Iranian man facing deportation from Australia to Nauru have taken his case to the High Court

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Lawyers for an Iranian man facing deportation from Australia to Nauru have taken his case to the High Court in Canberra. They say the 63-year-old was denied a fair hearing before the government obtained a visa that will see him removed to Nauru.

Transcript

00:00He came to Australia quite some time ago and then in 1999 he was convicted of murdering

00:08his wife and served 22 years in jail.

00:12And after he was released, of course, he failed the character test, so he was placed into

00:17indefinite immigration detention because he couldn't be sent back to Iran.

00:22Now he remained there until the High Court ruled that was illegal and he was released

00:28only to find himself back in detention when the government decided that he would be sent

00:35to Nauru under a new arrangement they had struck with that country.

00:41So that's how he came to be in the High Court today.

00:43And what are the key arguments here?

00:46Well, there's the obvious one.

00:49He was denied procedural fairness in the making of the decision because the Australian government

00:55simply applied for his visa and then told him he'd gotten a visa for Nauru afterwards.

01:01The government says it doesn't need to apply procedural fairness to this process.

01:05But the main thing the judges have talked about in the High Court today has been another argument

01:11about how unwell he is, that he suffers very bad asthma, and that if he is taken to Nauru,

01:20he faces premature death because there isn't adequate medical facilities on the island.

01:26So that's been the main focus so far in the case.

01:30And are there others in this position, Elizabeth?

01:33Yes, there are.

01:36He was one of three who were notified in February they'd be going to Nauru.

01:41Now, all of those cases are still bogged in the courts, and they were identified as part

01:48of an interim agreement with Nauru.

01:51Now, since then, the government has signed an actual memorandum of understanding, worth

01:58initially $408 million or something like that, for Nauru to take in some of these people.

02:06And there will be more for each year of the agreement paid to Nauru.

02:12And one person has been sent, a separate person, a fourth person, has been sent under that agreement.

02:18Thanks, Elizabeth.

02:21.

02:24.

02:28.

02:41.

02:42.

02:44.

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