Four men were suddenly returned to detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru after being brought to Australia for medical treatment

Four asylum seekers have been forcibly removed from a Darwin detention centre where they were receiving medical treatment, and returned to Manus Island and Nauru in the middle of the night.

The men had been brought over from Manus Island and Nauru for medical treatment but their level of recovery before being returned is not know. It is believed one man suffers chronic pancreatitis.

Two asylum seekers were returned to Nauru and two to Manus Island. Guardian Australia has had the removal confirmed by separate sources, but multiple calls over several days to the office of immigration minister Peter Dutton have not been returned.

It is understood at least one detainee was able to alert advocates on Friday that he had been called for an impromptu meeting with his case officer – roundly considered a signal that he will be put on a flight that night and sent to the offshore facilities, often with no opportunity to contact legal representatives. The forced removals have occurred several times over recent months according to advocates.

Guardian Australia was told a man returned to Papua New Guinea two weeks ago had a medical condition which meant he could require immediate emergency care at some point. It’s not known if he has been returned to the Manus Island facility or is being housed in Port Moresby.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Manus Island “is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis” and no one else should be sent there.

“These four people had been sent to mainland Australia because of medical concerns, none of them deserve to be sent back to the hellholes of detention on Manus or Nauru,” she told Guardian Australia.
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“These offshore detention camps are making people sick. They are dangerous and inhumane and must be closed.”

Darwin-based lawyer John Lawrence, who has been representing an Iranian man, referred to as Martin, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months, told Guardian Australia the forced removals are “typical of the arbitrary nature which this department deals with human beings”.

Lawrence also described the transfers to Manus Island as “lunacy” considering the volatile current environment after protests saw more than 500 detainees refuse food and water, some sewing their lips together, others swallowing razor blades.

Fifty-eight detainees were forcibly removed from the facility by security and allege they were beaten. The men are now being housed in a windowless cell, despite facing no charges.

Both the Australian and PNG governments have denied using improper force.

Guardian Australia was also told some men – including two who allegedly witnessed the murder of Reza Barati during unrest in February – were placed in solitary confinement.

At least 15 more Iranian detainees inside Darwin’s Wickham Point detention centre have embarked on hunger strike protests in the last two weeks. They have all been refused refugee status but cannot be sent back as Iran will not accept involuntary returns.

“The only choice left to him is to go back voluntarily and he’s steadfastly refused to do that for the same reasons as [Martin],” Lawrence said of one 28-year-old detainee he had spoken with.

Calls to Dutton’s office about the hunger-striking detainees have also gone unanswered.