Mohammad Mahdi Eskandarikhah was injured on Nauru after a guard threw a rock at him. About 50 asylum-seeker children live at the Australian-funded detention centre at Nauru and an estimated 80 to 100 live as refugees in nearby camps. A Wilson Security incident report states that about 9.30pm on March 6 last year, a group of boys and girls aged under 8 were "misbehaving" in the centre by pulling down toilet paper, pumping out handwash and throwing stones. A separate report by a staff member says after being hit by a stone, "I soon lost my temper and picked up a handful of rocks and threw them towards the children . . . I am unsure if any rocks hit them. I remember yelling at them because I was angry". A Save the Children report stated that Mohammad's parents said a rock hit their son in the face, cutting his lip and chipping two teeth.

His parents said in the days following, Mohammad was in pain, struggled to eat and suffered anxiety. The report said Mohammad regularly displayed "challenging", aggressive and defiant behaviours and his parents had struggled to manage this. His mother also had "unstable mental health", which increased the risk of emotional harm to Mohammad. Doctors for Refugees said Mohammad should immediately be brought to Australia for assessment and treatment. Consultant paediatrician Nikola Morton said the boy's files repeatedly referenced a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but he had never been formally assessed.

The group's convenor, Dr Barri Phatarfod, said: "If this happened to your own six-year-old, you'd be horrified ... so imagine the effect on a six-year-old with developmental issues, locked up in a hostile, foreign environment and attacked by those supposedly watching over him." A Department of Immigration spokeswoman said it was aware of the alleged assault against the boy, adding "a guard's employment was terminated and the matter was referred to the Nauru Police Force". She said the child was a refugee and the Government of Nauru handled his medical care. Comment has been sought from Wilson Security and Broadspectrum. Meantime, footage filmed at Nauru last year, obtained by Fairfax Media, further emphasises the suffering experienced by children at Nauru – including having rocks thrown at them.

"Nauru is very dangerous for us, we can't go outside at anytime because they drink or they fight … they throw rocks [at] us, they don't like us and we don't like to be here too," one girl says. Another says: "We are kids, we have broken hearts, we have little hearts, we come to here to get our wishes, but here is not our wishes". Save the Children Australia director of policy and public affairs, Mat Tinkler, said his organisation's staff "witnessed and reported numerous incidents of abuse and self-harm while working on Nauru". "Save the Children reported these incidents consistently to the Australian Government. We have continued to make the ongoing problems on Nauru directly known to senior members of the Turnbull Government," he said. "The incidents detailed in the media today again underscore the urgent situation on Nauru ... the Turnbull Government must immediately resettle asylum seekers and refugees left in limbo on Nauru in an appropriate, developed and humane country."

Guardian Australia on Wednesday published details of 2000 leaked reports relating to assaults, sexual abuse, self-harm attempts, child abuse and poor living conditions at Nauru. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his government "continue[d] to support the Nauru government to provide for the health, welfare and safety of all transferees and refugees on Nauru ... [the published material] will be carefully examined to see if there are any complaints there or issues there that were not properly addressed". Treasurer Scott Morrison, a former immigration minister, said incident reports were "not findings of fact" and reflected a reporting system that was established to "provide an opportunity to follow up and [provide] discussion both at the centre level and between governments".