PAPUA NEW GUINEA – An Iranian refugee who was “resettled” in Papua New Guinea’s second-largest city has tried to go back to detention on Manus Island.

Yaser Afshar said he was sent to Lae two months ago to take up a carpentry apprenticeship.

But he said he could not handle the noise of the job and asked to be given a different job in hospitality, where he had previous experience.

Afshar said PNG immigration staff then stopped supporting him, so he decided to buy a ticket and fly back to Manus Island.

“When I went to Lae they could not support me,” he said.

“Before, I had problems with my mental health, after I went to work the noise of my job made it difficult for me to think.

“They told me they have another job for me because my job in Iran was in catering services.

“They played a game with me for two months and after that I became tired and one night I slept in a church. Some local helped me and I went to his house. The next day I flew back to Manus.”

Afshar said he was staying in a hotel and had not been allowed back into immigration detention.

“After I came here they told me ‘why are you coming here, you have to go back to your city’,” he said.

“I told them they cannot support me. I asked them please help me.”

The ABC has sought comment from the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority Service about Afshar’s case.

Afshar is one of five refugees who left Manus Island to take up jobs.

Another refugee, Loghman Sawari, left his building apprenticeship and was sleeping rough on the streets of Lae before being taken in by a church.

Three other refugees remain in their jobs, two in Lae and one in the capital, Port Moresby.

There are 448 refugees on Manus Island who still need resettlement under the arrangement between PNG and Australia.

Only 59 of them have moved to a so-called “transit centre” where they receive cultural training and preparation to enter the PNG workforce.

Many refugees remain reluctant to accept resettlement in PNG, saying they fear crime and persecution.

This week, PNG immigration staff on Manus Island told detainees they would be separated based on whether they had been found to be refugees or not.

They also said those found to be refugees could no longer remain in the detention centre.

- ABC