Sprent Dabwido

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.

 Sprent Dabwido, who is one of a number of former MPs charged over a protest outside parliament nearly 18 months ago, had his passport seized last August as he was preparing to depart to meet with a cardiologist in Australia.

After a personal appeal to President Baron Waqa Mr Dabwido's passport is being returned. "The Supreme Court finally let me have my passport back," he said.

Sprent Dabwido, who had his passport confiscated in August, just as he was set to depart for Australia to see a cardiologist, collapsed at Nauru hospital on Wednesday.

Mr Dabwido, who had served as an MP for 12 years, including two as president, is one of a number of now former MPs who had opposed the actions of the government and this is believed to have led to the cancellation of his passport.