Transcript
Australia says about 800 men detained on Manus can move into the PNG community or return to their homelands once the centre is closed.
But for one Iranian detainee, returning home would result in a certainty.
"In Iran, gay people have to be killed by hanging."
The man didn't want to be named for fear of reprisal or further persecution.
He says three days after arriving in Australia, authorities forced him onto a plane bound for PNG despite knowing he was gay.
"When I arrived on Manus Island, after a few days I had an interview with Australian authorities and they said to me, gay is illegal and PNG has fourteen years in prison for gay people."
He's now spent four years imprisoned on Manus.
A detainee advocating for gay men on the island says there are about twenty in the prison camp.
Amir Taghinia says it's clear there are no options for these men on Manus, or in other parts of PNG, if Australia forces them to stay.
"We have witnessed many of these guys have been very, very badly traumatised. They have been assaulted, they have been insulted."
Mr Taghinia says the harassment and abuse gay men receive in the centre has left them in shock.
"I have seen many of them not leaving their rooms. I have seen them locking up themselves in their rooms and I have seen them crying some of them for days and days and days."
But Mr Taghinia says it'll be worse if they're forced into the PNG community.
The Australian human rights lawyer George Newhouse says he shares concern for the men of Manus if they're left in PNG.
"The Australian government knows it's not safe for the asylum seekers to be outside of the compound and they are forcing them out. There have already been machete attacks and people, more people, may die and those deaths will be on the head of the Australian government."
Mr Newhouse says Australia has a duty of care to those detained on Manus which Canberra is ignoring.
PNG's conservative Christian culture also threatens the gay men's wellbeing and Mr Taghinia says some of them would rather die in the centre than be forced into the community.
For the man who fled Iran in fear of his life to where he hoped to find safety in Australia, detention on Manus holds more promise than life outside.
"Every time a local attacks us, I see death in front of my eyes."
With American resettlement still uncertain the gay men of Manus are rapidly losing hope.
