PAPUA NEW GUINEA – A young Iranian refugee who fled Papua New Guinea to seek asylum in Fiji has had charges against him thrown out of court in Port Moresby.

The charge was dismissed this week for lack of evidence, but while awaiting judgement the 21-year-old from Iran was arrested again and charged with similar offences under the migration act.

Loghman Sawari had been resettled in the PNG community after about three years in the Manus Island detention centre.

He left PNG on a false passport in January, arriving in Fiji with the intention of seeking asylum from alleged persecution in PNG.

However, while on the way to a meeting with immigration officials, he was detained and forcibly deported back to PNG, where he was arrested by authorities and charged over using a false passport.

On Tuesday the charges against him were dismissed by the Waigani district court, which found the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence there was a case for Sawari to answer.

“They were relying on testimony from Loghman when he didn’t have a lawyer present,” said Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher, Kate Schuetze.

“I think the court has made the right decision in that regard but we’re still waiting to hear the outcome of other charges.”

Tuesday’s verdict was largely expected and thought to have contributed to the controversial decision to rearrest Sawari for the same alleged act and lay similar but broader charges against him.

That rearrest occurred as Sawari left a hearing on April 4 during which the prosecution had reportedly been told to produce further evidence for its original case against him.

Schuetze said the rearrest appeared to be a “witch hunt” and a clear abuse of legal process.

Despite having been granted bail on the first set of charges, Sawari was detained at Waigani police station for 10 days over the second set of charges.

He was granted bail last Thursday by a judge who also indicated the second round of charges could amount to a form of double jeopardy.

“I just want my freedom because Australia and PNG immigration put me in big risk,” Sawari said.

Sawari was erroneously detained as a 17-year-old minor on Manus Island in 2013 after seeking asylum in Australia by boat. He has claimed he was assaulted by detention centre staff on Manus Island.

Papua New Guinean authorities determined he was a refugee and he was released from detention into the PNG community. However, he soon found himself homeless on the streets of Lae.

Earlier this year he fled to Fiji, where he told local media he faced persecution in PN

He sought asylum and arranged a meeting with authorities. But before he reached the meeting the car he was in was stopped and he was bundled away to the airport and forcibly deported. - PNC sources