Australia has, for the first time, forcibly deported an Afghan asylum seeker to his homeland, with a 29-year-old ethnic Hazara sent back on Tuesday night from Sydney.

In the Federal Circuit Court yesterday, Judge Nicholas Manousaridis dismissed an application by the man to halt his deportation.

"Hazaras targeted": Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, says the forcible deportation makes no sense. Credit:Louie Douvis

"Please help me," the man, speaking Hazaragi, told the court through an interpreter.

Previous forcible deportations have seen Hazaras returned to Pakistan, but never to Afghanistan.