Afghan man beheaded after denied asylum

KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- An Afghan man has been beheaded in his native land after his request for asylum in Australia was rejected, an official says.

Edmund Rice Center Director Phil Glendenning said Afghan poet Mohammed Hussain was captured shortly after his application for asylum in Australia was rejected by the government of former Australian Prime Minster John Howard, the Sydney Morning Herald said in its Saturday edition.

Glendenning said Hussain told him he applied for asylum due to fears of being targeted by the Taliban or other militant groups.

Hussain had previously attempted to flee to both Iran and Pakistan to avoid the militant groups, but was forced to return to Afghanistan on both occasions.

Glendenning told the Morning Herald that Hussain's request to Australia was rejected under the so-called Pacific Solution and that the poet was eventually captured, tortured and beheaded.

"It further underscores the fact that the Pacific Solution hasn't ended, and that those who were the victims of it remain the victims of it," he said.

The Pacific Solution was the Australian government's former plan to keep refugees out by relocating them into detention camps or other countries.