A 70-year-old woman and her two children have been released into the Australian community after more than three years in immigration detention.

The family had fled Iran and sought asylum in Australia by boat, but arrived on Christmas Island just hours after the Rudd government signed a deal with Papua New Guinea decreeing no boat arrivals would settle in Australia.

The adult son was then separated from his mother and sister and sent to Manus Island as a single male. The family were not reunited for six months, despite pleas from caseworkers on their behalf, until they were all sent to Nauru.

Medical records and documents from International Health and Medical Services, seen by Guardian Australia, detail failing health and worsening mental illness, particularly in the mother, who suffered “detention fatigue” and chronic ailments, and the sister, who had severe depression related to an alleged assault.

The mother was thought to be the oldest person held in Australian immigration detention.

The family was flown to Darwin for the mother to receive medical treatment early last year, and had been detained inside the Wickham Point detention centre.

They received no response to their appeals for immigration minister, Peter Dutton, to use his discretionary powers and grant community detention.

But at the Easter weekend an asylum seeker advocate revealed the family had been removed from Wickham Point and transferred to another Australian city.

The family join a minority proportion of asylum seeker detainees to be granted community detention under a residence determination, supported by welfare and non-government agencies.

At the end of last month there were 576 people in community detention, according to the immigration department. A further 28,738 were living in the community on bridging visas.

The Iranian family are also among the 267 asylum seekers who still face transfer back to Nauru following the high court’s rejection of a challenge to the constitutionality of Australia’s offshore processing regime.



The group has been the subject of large protests across Australia and promises of civil disobedience by church groups. Also at the centre of protests was Baby Asha, whom doctors in Brisbane refused to discharge from hospital until Dutton agreed not to send her and her family to Nauru. They too were granted community detention.

More than 110 churches across Australia have pledged to offer the biblical concept of sanctuary to asylum seekers who face deportation back to Nauru. This month several “sanctuary-training” workshops were held in Australian cities. The workshops taught participants how to resist attempts by Border Force officers to detain asylum seekers seeking protection in a church.