Refugee Charged for Attempting Suicide at Australian Prison

Australian refugee advocates and opposition politicians on Saturday condemned the conviction of an Iranian asylum seeker on charges of attempted suicide, a criminal offence in Nauru where he is being held in an Australian-run detention center.

Under Australia’s tough immigration policy, asylum seekers attempting to reach the country by boat are intercepted and sent to camps on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru, about 1,800 miles northeast of Australia, or on Manus island in Papua New Guinea to the north.

Human rights groups, including the U.N. Refugee Agency, have criticized the harsh conditions at the detention centers, which have sparked riots and self-harm protests.

The Iranian man, who has an eight-year-old daughter in the detention center, pleaded guilty to the offense of attempted suicide on Friday and was given a 12 month suspended sentence, according to a Nauru government statement.

The number of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia is small compared with those arriving in Europe, but border security has long been a hot-button political issue.