August 29, 2005 - 9:20 AM

Detainee child sues Australian government

SYDNEY (Reuters) - 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 on Monday 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," 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.

Morrison said Badraie witnessed traumatic incidents in detention such as a riot and a detainee threatening to stab himself in the chest with a broken mirror, local media reported.

As a result of these traumas, Badraie suffered from anxiety, nightmares, was unable to eat and commonly drew detention centre fences, but did not gain adequate medical treatment, he said.

Badraie and his family were granted refugee status in 2002.

Morrison told the court that Badraie remained withdrawn after his release and has trouble eating, sleeping and socialising with his classmates at his western Sydney school.

The child is seeking damages from the Australian government's immigration department and the company that then managed its immigration detention centres.

The Australian government released the last 42 children from detention centres in July after an internal revolt against Howard's tough stance.

Australia's conservative government has been embarrassed this year by a string of immigration bungles, including the wrongful detention and deportation of two mentally ill Australian women.