The Iranian woman – the oldest in immigration detention – suffers chronic pain and frequent fevers and is among 267 people slated for return to the island

The oldest woman held in Australia’s immigration detention system, a 70-year-old Iranian, has pleaded with immigration minister, Peter Dutton, not to send her and her two adult children back to Nauru. Her son says her health is deteriorating and he fears she will die in detention.



The family is among the 267 people slated for a return to offshore processing in the wake of the high court decision earlier this month that confirmed offshore detention was legal. The three were brought to Darwin from Nauru a year ago for the elderly woman to receive medical treatment.

Their worsening mental and physical health – particularly that of the mother and daughter – is detailed in dozens of medical documents seen by the Guardian.

International Health and Medical Services (IHMS) reports state the mother is suffering “detention fatigue” and gets upset to the point of hysteria when asked about Nauru. Medical records note chronic pain, nightmares, frequent fevers, leg problems, and poor eyesight. A 2015 document noted: “she hits herself constantly to try and deal with the pain.”

Another described her as: “a very slight woman of 68 with very slow gait, she was very emotional during the consult and feels she will just be lift to die in the camp or go blind.”

The 70-year-old Iranian woman is suffering from “detention fatigue” according to medical reports seen by the Guardian. Her son fears she will die in detention. Photograph: Supplied

According to the IHMS notes, much of the woman’s anxiety stems from a lengthy separation from her son shortly after they arrived on Christmas Island nearly three years ago.

The family arrived on the evening of 19 July 2013, just hours after the Rudd Labor government ruled that no boat arrivals would ever settle in Australia. The policy was not in place when they left Indonesia.

The family claims the son was later tricked into going to Manus Island and was not permitted to say goodbye to his mother and sister.

“They took me to the single men’s camp and my mum and sister went to the family camp,” he told the Guardian through an interpreter.

“After 10 days they called us [men together] and said: ‘You, you and you, go to Manus.’ I said I am with my family on Christmas Island. They said: ‘Trust me, if you go to Manus all your family will go too.’”

The mother and sister claim they were initially not told where he was. They say they were only able to speak with him on the phone once in four months, “despite false promises by DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border Protection) and Serco,” one doctor on Christmas Island wrote in his notes.



His mother told a caseworker she did not want to be seen as a troublemaker by making a complaint.

The department of immigration said it would not comment on individual cases, but “where families are separated, regular contact by telephone and internet is facilitated”.

The spokeswoman added: “where reunion of immediate family members can be facilitated in a regional processing country, the department will take action to make appropriate reunion arrangements.”



In a letter seen by the Guardian, a former Salvation Army case worker said she raised concerns multiple times that the man should be with his family instead of on Manus Island.



Months later the family was reunited on Nauru.

“When I saw my mum I was so surprised because I could see the changes in her appearance, in her health,” the son said. “For six months she had been crying for me and she was completely changed and had lost so much weight.”

He said the family tried to keep their heads down in Nauru, despite the disturbances and self-harm happening around them.

The family was transferred to Darwin’s Wickham Point immigration detention centre last year for the mother to receive medical care.

“Definitely the situation got better but it’s still a detention centre,” he said. “It’s still stressful (and) still you can see the fences. Now it’s 13 months we have been in Darwin, and for the 13 months every day and every night my mum cries out and hits herself.”

Once they arrived in Darwin his sister told him she had tried to take her own life after allegedly being assaulted by a guard. Her attempted suicide and ongoing mental health issues continue to worry her family.

“Even right now my sister is so scared of going back to Nauru,” he said. “My mum is scared she will be destroyed.”

In September a letter written by refugee caseworkers on behalf of the family pleaded with the immigration department and minister Dutton to grant the family a discretionary exemption from transfer back to Nauru or Manus. It cited “a real risk of serious or significant harm in Nauru” and ongoing medical treatment required for the mother’s “acute mental and physical problems.”

The daughter faced a real risk of danger following alleged sexual harassment by a guard when they were last detained on the island, the letter added.

The son also faced harassment and harm from a detainee who had made threats against him, it said. He claimed to have been harassed by other detainees for not taking part in protest action and for reporting to authorities a Facebook group which included threats to damage the camp facilities.

The former director of mental health for IHMS, psychiatrist, Dr Peter Young, has reviewed the family’s medical records. He told the Guardian that continued indefinite detention and uncertainty about the future was harming all three of them.

“The records show this family is displaying significant symptoms as a result of their being in detention, and these are being exacerbated by serious medical complaints simply not being followed up,” Young said.



He added that doctors had consistently advised that the family was being harmed by being separated and by being held in detention, and stated that the family should be released into the community.



“The advice of the doctors was that these people were being harmed by being in detention, and that they should be released, but that was simply never acted upon.



“It’s a very difficult and frustrating situation for medical professionals to be in, because if their advice is not listened to, it severely limits the good they can do for people.”



While much of the public attention has been focussed on the babies and children in the group of 267 asylum seekers facing imminent removal to Nauru, Young said the elderly also suffered in detention.

“There are a whole range of groups of people who suffer particular vulnerabilities in a detention situation. The elderly are definitely one of those, along with people with developmental difficulties, or autism spectrum disorder; these groups suffer significantly acutely.”



Earlier this month human rights lawyers said the federal government was showing signs of preparing for fast-track removals of the 267 asylum seekers who face deportation after the high court ruling, including the Iranian family.

Lawyers from the Human Rights Law Centre said a number of legal representatives for the asylum seekers had received letters from the federal government saying the previous promise of 72-hours’ notice of deportation would soon “cease to apply.”

“I’m glad some of the children are going now to the community detention,” the Iranian man said from inside Wickham Point detention centre.

“But my main concern is probably the immigration office or Australian government has forgotten my mum completely. I think now it’s really enough for a 70-year-old lady to be detained in a detention centre for three years.”