Papua New Guinea man charged with killing Iranian granted bail

Friday, 24 July 2015 7:53 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 24 July 2015 2:30 PM ]

A man at the candle lit vigil outside Sydney Town Hall on May 29, 2014 holds a placard saying, “Justice for Reza Barati. Murdered on Manus Island. 17th February 2014.”

A man charged with the murder of an Iranian national inside an Australian-run asylum seekers' detention center has been granted bail.

Joshua Kaluria, a former guard with the British multinational security services company G4S, was charged with the killing of Reza Barati, a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker inside the detention center on Manus Island off the Papua New Guinea coast in February 2014.

Manus Island MP Ron Knight said that a local court had released Kaluria on bail, but added that his bail could be revoked if there were reports about his misconduct in the center.

Barati lost his life to fatal head injuries he sustained as a result of “brutal beating” by the guard in the refugee camp during an outbreak of violence there.

Meanwhile, refugees in the center claim that Kaluria had made contact with them and threatened to go after those who reported him to police.

Two asylum seekers, who witnessed the beating of the murdered Iranian national, have been granted refugee status, but refuse to leave the detention camp, saying they fear for their lives.

Another man has also been charged over the Iranian’s death, with police still looking for three more suspects in the case.

The file photo shows the Lorengau transit center on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

Following the Barati's murder, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Australian ambassador to Tehran over Canberra’s maltreatment and violence against asylum seekers.

In recent years, the Australian government has been under fire at home and abroad for its strict immigration policies and treatment of refugees.

In September 2014, another Iranian asylum seeker was declared brain dead by an Australian hospital after suffering blood poisoning due to a lack of medical attention in a detention center in Papua New Guinea.

The 24-year-old Hamid Kehazaei had been urgently medevaced in August for emergency treatment from the detention camp to intensive care at a Hospital in Brisbane, where he was declared brain dead.

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