"They were happy Australian kids, why [did the government] do this to them, they don't deserve to be here," she told Fairfax Media from inside the detention centre. Villawood detention centre in Sydney. Credit:Jessica Hromas "[My children] are really upset inside and they are asking me 'What are we doing for Christmas, are we getting out? Why are we here?'". Ms Abas, originally from Iraq, arrived on a boat from Indonesia in 2009 with other family members. They were taken to Christmas Island then granted protection in Australia. Her father, known as Captain Emad, arrived in Australia in 2010. He fled two years later, after ABC's Four Corners program alleged he was running a people-smuggling racket from Canberra.

The case cast a spotlight on his family, and the Department of Immigration determined Ms Abas, who was 19 when arriving in Australia, had falsified information on her visa application, including the reason why she needed protection. Villawood detainee Zahra Abas and her Australian children Salwa, 5, and Yasmin, 3. Ms Abas said this week her father was "abusive, controlling and angry" and told the family to lie to immigration officials about their names and background. "In Indonesia he wanted to break my legs because I wanted to run away from him, and he took a hammer and hit my leg and I got stitches from it," she said. Villawood detainee Zahra Abas and her Australian children Salwa, 5, and Yasmin, 3.

"He told us to tell un-genuine information and I did, but my intention wasn't anything bad, I just wanted to live [in] freedom without him abusing me any more." Under the former Labor government, the department said while Ms Abas had breached her obligations under migration law, her visa would not be cancelled. But in December last year when the Coalition was in office, then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison personally intervened to cancel Ms Abas' visa. She was informed on Christmas Eve. In a letter to Ms Abas, the veracity of which the department did not dispute, Mr Morrison wrote that she had been living in Malaysia for many years, rather than in Iraq where she claimed to have suffered persecution, and should not have been granted a protection visa. He said there was no evidence she was under duress from her father when applying for a visa.

"Notwithstanding that the best interests of the dependent children would be served by a decision not to cancel the mother's visa, this is outweighed by the seriousness of the non-compliance," Mr Morrison wrote. Ms Abas was taken into detention in January, and lives in residential-style housing. Her Australian citizen husband suffers medical problems and depression after an accident and cannot care for the children, forcing them to live with their mother at Villawood indefinitely. Ms Abas' husband visits the family in detention and she is 21 weeks pregnant. She is also severely depressed and fears for the future of her unborn baby and young daughters. Salwa, once a bubbly child with many friends who loved the film Frozen, is now lonely and suffers nightmares. Yasmin has become unhappy and clingy. "Every day [Salwa] says 'I had a really bad day, I hate this school, I hate you, I hate this place', and then she goes in her room and cries. She doesn't want to go out, she doesn't want to eat," Ms Abas said.

"It's like a jail - you have no freedom, no control over your life or your children's life." Loading Mr Dutton and the Department of Immigration refused to answer questions regarding Ms Abas, or explain why she was the only family member being detained. A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton said his department was "managing" the case. Follow us on Twitter