This Little Girl Is Being 'Tortured' By The Government

When asked for her name, she just wrote a number.

This five-year-old girl is suffering inside an Australian detention centre.

Supplied to the ABC / Via abc.net.au

The Iranian asylum seeker is being held with her family at the Wickham detention centre in Darwin, where she is suffering post traumatic stress disorder, has attempted self-harm and is displaying sexualised behaviour, according to Save The Children.

The girl and her family were moved to the mainland after a year on Nauru, but they may soon be moved back to the off-shore detention centre.

This morning, the girl's father told the ABC that his daughter had "begged" to be kept away from Nauru.

"Yes, she was under impression that we would be also taken to the Nauru because she could hear them, she could hear the voices from outside and was begging me to stop them from taking us back to Nauru," he said.

The girl's lawyer says sending her back would greatly endanger her health.

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"She herself is independently scared and her parents are more terrified," John Lawrence told BuzzFeed News. "She’s suffering from PTSD and severe anxiety at the prospect of the department sending her back to Nauru."

Mr Lawrence met the little girl last week, and said it's clear she is suffering.

"On first appearances she seemed like a normal, regular, lovely girl," he said. "When I asked for her name, she wrote her boat number, which is the department’s way of identifying anyone - man, woman or child - who comes by boat. That confirmed to me that the entire thing is inappropriate.

"She then asked to draw something else. She depicted the lips of a figure sewn up, which is something she’s seen on Nauru.

Mr Lawrence said he's been in contact with the Department of Immigration, but has not received a response.

"We’ve requested, without legal action because we think it’s obscene needing to go to the law for this, that she be immediately released into the community with her parents to live with her parents and other relatives in the community," he said.

"If they don’t do the right thing, we’ll file an injunction against the minister to prevent her from being returned to Nauru, and to order that she be released into the community."

"The evidence that I've got [of her condition] is all Immigration Department material. Several high ranking doctors, psychologists and advisors have examined the girl because of the concerns they have about her condition. [The Minister] has a duty of care. She’s been assessed as being seriously mentally ill. She should be released forthwith."

"We’re hopeful the minister will do the right thing," he said.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the little girl is being "tortured."

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In a post on her website, Senator Hanson-Young has called on the immigration minister Peter Dutton to stop the girl's return to Nauru.

"The Minister for Immigration is knowingly tormenting this child by keeping her in detention and threatening to return her to Nauru," she says.

"Medical experts have clearly advised that the girls illness is associated with conditions on Nauru. Sending her back there will cause further harm."

This little girl has been exposed to horrific scenes inside the Nauru detention camp and has been severely traumatised as a result. She must not be sent back."

This morning, the Senator went a step further, claiming the girl was being tortured.

"The minister is torturing this little child and I don't use those words lightly. We know that the detention has caused these issues for her. Her mental health has deteriorated," she told the ABC.

Peter Dutton was not pleased.

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"That's a repugnant statement, even beneath Sarah Hanson-Young, particularly given that 1,200 people died at sea while the Greens were in government with Labor," Mr Dutton said in a statement.

In March, a review commissioned by former immigration minister Scott Morrison found evidence of rape, child sexual assault and the trading of drugs by guards for sexual favours from detainees on Nauru.

The Department of Immigration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.