The goverment is denying claims that a hungerstrike is underway at Villawood immigration detention centre following the reported suicide of an Iraqi man on Monday.
The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says 160 inmates have begun striking after Ahmad al Eqabi was found in a shower cubicle.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen this morning said it is a 'difficult' situation but he is advised the situation is calm at Villawood, and he knew nothing of a hungerstrike.
Rintoul said a group of varying nationalities is refusing food, and in his experience, inmates could be trusted to tell the truth on the matter over the government, he told the ABC.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyers headed by George Newhouse want an independent inquiry into the death, AAP reported.
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Mr Newhouse is also acting for more than 25 ex-detainees who are suing the federal government for damages over their detention.
Bowen says the latest man to die in the centre, Ahmad al Eqabi, had been twice rejected for asylum in Australia and was facing deportation back to Iraq.
Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition told the ABC on Tuesday that the man had a family to support in his home country.
