Deportee refuses to leave

PAPUA NEW GUINEA– An asylum seeker detained by Australia on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island is reported to have resisted a second attempt to repatriate him to Lebanon.

Azzam el Sheikh has been denied refugee status after more than three years in detention, but said his life would be in danger if he was returned to his country of origin.

Last month, El Sheikh committed an act of self harm while at the Manus Island airport, from where he was returned to custody at the Lorengau police station.

A source said El Sheikh physically resisted a second attempt to repatriate him on Monday at the airport and is now back at the police station. The PNG immigration authority has not replied to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, officials from the United States Department of Homeland Security arrived at the detention centre on Manus Island on Tuesday to fingerprint and photograph about 600 of the detainees who have been granted refugee status.