Lawyers scrambled to get a legal injunction preventing the deportation but were kept from contacting the man in time

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Australian immigration authorities have deported an Iraqi asylum seeker against his will and despite there being a pending court case scheduled to sit next week.

Advocates and lawyers scrambled on Wednesday night to get a legal injunction but were prevented from contacting the man on the phone, and by the time a barrister was found to lodge an injunction, the asylum seeker was already on a plane.

The man was scheduled to have an appeal before the federal circuit court on 19 September – next week.

The Iraqi ambassador to Australia, Dr Hussain Mahdi Al-Ameri, last year said his embassy would not issue travel documents to Iraqi asylum seekers unless they were clearly willing and had written a request.

The Iraqi embassy was contacted by advocates for the man on Wednesday, and advised of the deportation.

It was told that the man had received a removal notice at the end of last month, but he’d believed a separate notice of his directions hearing, sent on 5 September, meant he would not be removed.

Advocates and friends were adamant he had not signed anything. They wrote to the Iraqi embassy after his deportation to request clarification on the Iraqi government’s position on forceful deportations.

“[He] did not have a lawyer and was isolated from support in immigration detention. I was notified by another detainee who said [he] had been removed by guards from Hawk compound around 3pm and had been threatening self harm with a razor (fortunately this did not happen),” the letter.

“There were considerable efforts throughout last night by myself, another advocate and a Perth solicitor to engage the Australian government solicitor and ABF [Australian Border Force], but to no avail.”

The man had been at Yongah Hill immigration detention centre, where 22-year-old Sarwan Aljhedie died earlier this month. After detainees protested and fires destroyed much of the centre, Australian government officials sought to transfer the men across the country’s detention network. Dozens were sent to Christmas Island, where many are now being told they will transferred back to the mainland.

It follows the forced deportation of at least a dozen Sri Lankan asylum seekers at 2am on Tuesday. They were transferred to Perth from various facilities, and flown out by charter plane. Some of those men also had court challenges pending, and some had been in Australian detention for more than six years.

The Australian government frequently uses private charter planes for its deportations and transfers of asylum seekers and refugees. In December the Department of Home Affairs’ three-year $63m contract with Skytraders will begin.

The company was engaged to meet the “variable, discreet and confidential” operational demands of Border Force, “for the movement of high-risk persons and departmental staff between on-shore and offshore locations”.

The tender said the department needs to take “long-range, multisector flights with limited notice”.

The Department of Home Affairs and the ABF have been contacted for comment.