A former case worker on Manus Island had pleaded for help for the mentally ill detainee Reza Soleimani after he was beaten so badly in the February riots he fell into a near catatonic state.

The worker said the 45-year-old had not spoken since the day he was bashed, allegedly by a PNG national, in front of his fellow Iranian detainees. A request for urgent medical attention was ignored.

Desperate: Reza Soleimani after months on Manus Island.

''This man was not eating, not drinking, and shaking uncontrollably,'' the case worker said.

''It really is shameful. I have not seen anyone like that before, in an almost catatonic state. It is seriously distressing.''