The parents of Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati, who died in 2014 after being brutally beaten in an Australian offshore detention centre, have commenced legal action over his death.

Mr Berati was aged 23 when he was beaten to death by guards and other local contractors in a violent rampage at the Manus Island detention centre that also left 77 other asylum seekers injured.

The Australian Senate committee inquiry into the February 2014 incident found the violence was ‘eminently foreseeable’ and that the Australian Government had failed in its duty to protect Mr Berati from harm.

The Senate inquiry report specifically recommended that compensation be provided to Mr Berati’s family for his death. However, this recommendation was never followed.

In documents filed in the Victorian Supreme Court, Mr Berati’s parents Ita Torab Berati and Farideh Baralak are suing the Australian Government and security operator G4S for wrongful death and mental harm suffered as a result of their son’s murder.

It is thought to be the first time civil proceedings have been brought in Australia on behalf of the family of someone who has died in offshore detention.

"Reza was our only son," said Reza's father Torab Berati. "He was an ethical and good person who cared about his family deeply.

"Our family is heartbroken and we have been suffering for so long with his death.

"We won’t recover from our loss. I do not want the human rights of my child to be ignored or forgotten by the world. I want the international community to protect the rights of my son. I want justice for my son. I don’t want his death to be insignificant.”

Do you think the Australian Government owes compensation to the family of Reza Berati? Do you thinthe Australian Government owes a duty of care to those asylum seekers who are being held in off-shore detention centres?