The Guardian: An asylum seeker who had been suffering acute mental health crises for more than a year – and whose friends had pleaded with Australian authorities for him to be treated – has been found dead on Manus Island.

The body of Hamed Shamshiripour, an Iranian national, was found in the forest near the Australian-run East Lorengau refugee transit centre. Manus province police chief, Inspector David Yapu, confirmed the death and said a crime scene had been established.

The Guardian has seen photographs, purporting to show Shamshiripour as he was found in the forest. The body has visible wounds, but the circumstances of his death are unclear.

The initial reported cause of his death, suicide, has been contested by refugees and asylum seekers on the island. There are reports from Manus island that Shamshiripour had been missing since Saturday.

Shamshiripour, 31, had initially been rejected for refugee status, but that status was being reviewed. Several refugees said Shamshiripour had recently made attempts to commit suicide.

Shamshiripour had spent some time in Australia for medical treatment.

The Guardian reported in June last year that Shamshiripour was found, naked in the Mike compound, yelling in an incoherent and distressed state, and was arrested and taken to Lorengau prison, before being taken to the “managed accommodation area” within the detention centre for people suffering mental health problems.

According to a formal complaint made by 14 fellow refugees and asylum seekers, Shamshiripour was beaten by guards instead of being cared for.

“We, the signatories to this complaint form want to know why you are not providing mental health support to Hamed … and instead you have subjected him to ill-treatment and corporal punishment because he is not behaving normally due to his mental ailment.” >>>