NT asylum seeker resumes hunger strike

An Iranian asylum seeker who recently went seven weeks without food has resumed his hunger strike in a Darwin detention centre.

The 33-year-old man began the strike on November 1, and went 53 days without eating until his lawyers and advocates pressured him into taking food on December 23.

He had lost 23kg, and on December 28 resumed his strike, and has since gone another 10 days without food.

"He has given up hope, lost any faith he had in receiving justice in Australia," his lawyer John Lawrence told AAP on Wednesday.

The man was "fleeing one of arguably the most fascist states in the world at the moment, where they have secret police, thought police, morality police, no rule of law, no procedure, no process, and he's come here not for milk or honey or for jumping any queues but because he believes, like most, that this is a country that delivers on justice and the rule of law".

The man spent about a year on Christmas Island, then was held at Villawood and was eventually released on a community visa, before his application to be recognised as a refugee failed.

The man is now in a legal no-man's-land, as Iran will not accept asylum seekers who are involuntarily returned, and the man refuses to go freely.

"He genuinely believes that upon his return he will be arrested, detained, tortured, and probably killed," Mr Lawrence said.

He said his client is demonstrating on behalf of many other asylum seekers from Iran and Sri Lanka in the same legal quandary.

Others at the Wickham Point detention centre are "eternally grateful" and beholden to the man's actions, Mr Lawrence said.

His client is in a wheelchair with an infected foot, the result of a suspected mosquito bite, and is having difficulty accessing medications because he is only consuming water, he said.

An application for a judicial review of the reasons for refusal of his visa has been filed with the Federal Court and will be heard later this month, but the man had little hope of success.

"He is under great mental pressure and suffering great mental anguish. He's just had enough," Mr Lawrence said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration said it would not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

"People who have exhausted all outstanding avenues to remain in Australia and have no lawful basis to remain are expected to depart," she said in a statement.

The department ensures it meets its duty of care to all people in detention and during the course of removal, including provision of health care as necessary.

© AAP 2015