Hazara man Khodayar Amini was afraid he'd be sent back to Afghanistan when he killed himself during a Facebook video call, according to Australian refugee advocates.
The 30-year-old had been released from WA's Yongah Hill detention facility on a bridging visa and was in touch with two advocates, Sarah Ross and Michelle Bui from the Refugee Rights Action Network.
Sarah Ross told BuzzFeed News that last Sunday, Khodayar engaged with the women over Facebook, telling them he wanted to kill himself.
"I was with my friend Michelle and we were sitting together and receiving messages from him on Facebook," she said. "He was saying things like 'I want to kill myself' and 'I want to finish my life'.
"He then called us on video chat on Facebook. I've had suicide prevention training so was trying to use that to calm him down."
She told BuzzFeed News neither of them were prepared for what the Hazara man did next.
"We watched as he poured petrol all over himself. Then we heard a lighter click and he set himself on fire."
"I hit the phone out of Michelle's hand."
The women called emergency services and later in the day, Victorian police notified them a body matching a description of Khodayar had been found in Dandenong bushland.
Khodayar was Hazara – an ethnic minority, persecuted in Afghanistan – and had reportedly been distressed by suicides of his friends from the WA detention centre on similar community visas.
He had released this message through the advocates last weekend, fearful he'd be sent back to Afghanistan.
I Khodayar Amini write the following few sentences... Yes they did this to me, with slogans of humanity, sentenced me to death.
My crime was that I was a refugee. They tortured me for 37 months and during all these times, they treated me in the most cruel and inhumane way.
They violated my basic human right and took away my human dignity with their false and so called humane slogans.
They killed me as well as many of my friends such as: Nasim Najafi, Reza Rezayee and Ahmad Ali Jaffari.
They were my friends and their crime was that they had sought asylum in Australia.
I write this statement with my blood for those who call themselves human beings, I ask you to stand up for the rights of refugees and stop people being killed just because they have become refugees.
Humanity is not a slogan; every human being has the right to live. Living shouldn't a crime anymore.
Red Cross, Immigration and the Police killed me with their slogans of humanity and cruel treatments.
Authorities are investigating.
Victorian police confirmed to BuzzFeed News that officers had found a body after a grassfire on Sunday.
"The death of the man is not being treated as suspicious," said a spokesperson. "A report is now being prepared for the coroner."
A spokesperson for immigration minister Peter Dutton would not comment on Khodayar's case, pointing to the open investigation by the state police.
Khodayar's apparent suicide comes after 29-year-old Tamil asylum-seeker Leo Seemanpillai self-immolated in June last year.