Exclusive: Welfare of alleged rape victim discussed after she was approached by journalists from the Australian, emails obtained under FOI laws show

The Somali refugee and alleged rape victim known as Abyan reported feeling “harassed” and “scared” after Chris Kenny, an associate editor at the Australian, and a photographer approached her accommodation on Nauru, immigration officials said in correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia.

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Emails obtained through freedom of information requests show top immigration officials from the two countries discussing the welfare of Abyan, who was reportedly upset after the journalists “caused some issues” with her after she returned from Australia.

“She advised [service provider] Connect she is unable to stay at her house as the journalists were ‘camped outside’,” one official says. Written approval was given for Abyan to be moved elsewhere, following the approach from the journalists.

An officer from the Nauruan government responds that he or she was unaware of the incident and was “sorry to hear that”. The Nauru official adds that the article in the Australian has just been seen. “We have advised [redacted] on the implications of publishing photos of asylum seekers.”

The correspondence also shows senior officials in the Australian immigration department – including at least two first assistant secretaries and a deputy commissioner – were aware of Kenny’s presence on the island and that he was pursuing Abyan.

The journalists were Kenny – the first journalist in 18 months to be granted a visa to visit Nauru – and photographer Kelly Barnes. When asked by Guardian Australia in October 2015 how he obtained a visa to report from Nauru, Kenny said: “If my public support for strong border protection measures helped sway Nauru’s decision, so be it.”



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Abyan – who says she was raped by an unknown assailant in July 2015 – had just returned to Nauru from Australia, where she had been seeking an abortion.

Kenny had flown into Nauru to report on conditions, and arrived as news about Abyan was breaking so he decided to try and get an interview with Abyan, he later wrote.

In another email an official confirms Abyan will be placed in a secure place “for a period of time due to two journalists approaching her about 10.30am this morning at her residence”.

“I have been advised that she is currently with IHMS staff at the RON hospital clinic and has indicated to them that she is feeling harassed and is too scared to return to the residence due to the journalists presence. I have verbally advised IHMS staff of your approval and she will be transported here shortly,” the official says.

A first assistant secretary at the department of immigration and border protection, Cheryl-Anne Moy, advised Australian officials on Nauru in October that there were two Australian journalists on the island and requested that no staff from Border Force be interviewed.

“I am not sure if you are aware some journalists caused some issues today with the refugee who returned to Nauru on Friday,” Moy wrote to the department’s top officials including the commander of regional processing, Kingsley Woodford-Smith, a first assistant secretary of detention services, Neil Skill, and deputy commissioner Cindy Briscoe.

“She [Abyan] advised [welfare agency] Connect she is unable to stay at her house as the journalists were ‘camped outside’. She is currently in RPCI [Regional Processing Centre 1].”

The emails were obtained under Freedom of Information laws and the names of Australian and Nauru government officials on Nauru and personal details about Abyan have been redacted.

Kenny did acknowledge at the time that Abyan was not happy with his visit. “Five hours after the Australian’s interview Nauruan authorities reported that Abyan complained about being visited by the media and had sought medical attention at the local hospital,” he wrote in his piece on 20 October.

The next paragraph reads: “Abyan’s case comes after another rape allegation made by a Somali refugee on Nauru, reported by the ABC’s 7.30. Police have investigated that complaint and determined that it was fabricated.”

Kenny wrote that he found Abyan by asking other refugees. He knocked on her door and her initial response was to refer him to her lawyer, George Newhouse, he reported.

Abyan then apparently relented and invited him into her home and gave him a chair to sit on and that she “again spoke briefly outside her door and agreed to have her photo taken without her face being shown”.

Refugee activist Pamela Curr, who was speaking to Abyan on the phone when Kenny was at the house, told supporters in an email that Abyan was very distressed and she had asked Kenny to leave.

Kenny said Curr was spreading “malicious lies” about him. He called her and sent her two legal letters demanding she retract. She later apologised and withdrew some of her comments.



Kenny, who has denied harassing Abyan, wrote of the incident that it would have been “unthinkable that any responsible journalist fortunate enough to be there would not try to find her and seek her version of events”. “It was a difficult and fraught assignment but I was pleased to speak with Abyan and relay to the public her version of events and her wishes.”

In a statement to Guardian Australia Kenny said Abyan’s visit to the Nauru hospital was originally reported by him in the Australian.

“As has been clearly established she was interviewed of her own free will and was treated with respect,” Kenny said. “At no stage was she harassed and nor was anyone ‘camped’ outside her accommodation.

“Refugee advocates have spread lies about these events and have withdrawn them.”