AUSTRALIA: A 10-year-old Iranian boy who says he suffers a psychological disorder after being detained for two years in razor-wire immigration detention centres, is suing the Australian government.
Shayan Badraie says he developed traumatic stress disorder while detained with his parents in the Woomera outback immigration centre in South Australia state and Sydney's Villawood detention centre between 2000 and 2002.
"This case is not about the policy of mandatory detention," Badraie's lawyer Andrew Morrison told the New South Wales Supreme Court in Sydney yesterday at the start of his legal action.
"It is about the way in which it was carried out and the permanent injury inflicted on a young child by a regime which failed to provide for his medical needs," Mr Morrison said.
Australia is a nation built on migrants but its policy of mandatory detention of illegal immigrants, regarded as among the toughest in the world, has helped conservative prime minister John Howard's government win four straight elections. Australia's strict policy includes detaining illegal arrivals, illegal workers and people who overstay their visas in razor-wire camps, often for years while their cases are heard.
Human rights groups have strongly criticised the camps.