Australia has cracked down on inmates behind a wave of riots at immigration detention centres across the country.
Authorities said they had transferred 15 illegal immigrants from a detention centre in Sydney to a high security prison pending possible criminal charges over arson and an attempted mass breakout from the facility on New Year's eve.
Seven asylum seekers were also due in court later today facing possible charges over arson and attacks on guards at the Woomera detention camp in the south Australian desert, officials said.
The immigration department also announced that strip searches would be used more widely at its detention centres to prevent inmates from carrying weapons.
Inmates set fire to buildings at five centres across the country over the past week in what advocacy groups described as acts of desperation and protest over the punitive conditions under which they are held.
The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard has threatened to imprison or deport those found responsible for the violence. It says the fires would have no impact on its tough policy of mandatory detention of all asylum seekers.
Mr Howard's government has been criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups for its policy of locking up all asylum seekers in remote centres, including on distant Pacific islands, while their refugee applications are considered - a process that can take years.
A total of 1,133 asylum seekers are being held, many of them from Iraq and Afghanistan.
AFP