In an interview with The Project on Channel 10, Sprent Dabwido, said he now regrets having done it.
His damning comments have prompted human rights groups in Australia to renew calls for the government to shut down its refugee detention camps on the island.
The legal director of the Human Rights Law Centre, Katie Robertson, said for the former president to liken the treatment of innocent people on the island to "torture" is a damning indictment of Australia's harmful refugee policy.
