Letter from Sydney/Pádraig Collins: Though South Australia's notorious Woomera detention centre closed last April, its legacy continues to affect the lives of people previously incarcerated there.
One of those is an eight-year-old Iranian boy, Shayan Badraie. Doctors say that Shayan suffered catastrophic harm after witnessing violent riots and suicide attempts during the 15 months he spent in Woomera's prison-like conditions from the age of five.
Last week his family began legal action against the Australian government seeking damages for trauma suffered by their child. They are also suing the company which ran the detention centre, Australian Correctional Management.
The Badraie's lawyer, Mr Josh Bornstein, says Shayan suffered incredible harm. "In fact this is a case that is squarely and fairly a case of child abuse, not abuse at the hands of a paedophile but child abuse of an institutional kind which flows from the application of inflexible government policy.
"This was entirely foreseeable, predictable and inevitable. It was a tragedy that did not have to happen," Mr Bornstein said.
Shayan's story initially came to attention in August 2001 when he was shown on ABC's Four Corners television programme lying in the arms of his parents at Sydney's Villawood detention centre, where the family had been transferred to after Woomera. The Badraies, members of the Ahl-i Haq religious minority which is persecuted in Iran, arrived in Australia and were taken to Woomera in March 2000.
There were regular riots there at the time. These were quelled with batons, water cannon and tear gas. It was a place where violence and threats of suicide were an everyday occurrence. The five-year-old became withdrawn, suffered panic attacks and lived in dread of the centre's guards.
By December 2000 Shayan was so frightened he tried to sleep during the day rather than at night, according to notes kept by Mr Wayne Lynch, a Woomera counsellor. A month later he was diagnosed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Despite this, the Badraie family was transferred to a punishment compound at Woomera, where only one other child was held. Shayan understood that being sent there meant you were a "bad" person.
According to Mr Lynch, after seeing another "self-harm incident" Shayan suffered "bed-wetting, nightmares, anorexia, insomnia and tearfulness".
In March 2001 the family was transferred to Villawood. Dr Timothy Hannon, a clinical psychologist at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, found that Shayan was waking up to 10 times a night, crying and fearful that his family was about to be taken away from him and would be hurt.
In May that year, after 17 months in detention, Shayan's meagre defences against what he was being forced to experience broke down completely. He stopped speaking and eating, had nightmares about an attempted suicide he had seen, and had to be forced to take liquids.
After being admitted to Westmead hospital he was assessed by a team of three psychologists. Their report stated that Shayan was acutely traumatised from his time in detention.
In the pictures he drew, people were always behind bars with tears running down their faces. "They're crying," he said. "They're all scared," he told the psychologists.
Shayan was hospitalised eight times for a total of 86 days. Psychologists warned of possible long-term psychological damage and chronic mental illness.
Australia's then minister for immigration, Mr Philip Ruddock, said at the time that the television documentary had been produced with "a clear aim of obtaining a different outcome for people who have been found not to be refugees". He also questioned the authenticity of incidents "the boy thought he saw". At least on that occasion Mr Ruddock referred to the child as a boy. In an interview on ABC television's 7.30 Report he referred to Shayan as "it".
On August 23rd, 2001, Shayan was taken away from his family and placed in foster care. But in January 2002 Mr Ruddock relented and granted bridging visas allowing Shayan to be placed in the community with his mother and sister.
His father was allowed to join them in August 2002 when the Refugee Review Tribunal found in favour of the family and they were given three-year temporary protection visas.
Part of the family's case in their suit is the contention that doctors, several of whom had called on Mr Ruddock to intervene in the case, were ignored.
"[The doctors say] it was impossible to provide proper treatment to this little boy because of the government policy of mandatory detention," Mr Bornstein said.
He said Mr Ruddock and the government had ignored a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission recommendation that the family receive a payment of $70,000 and an apology.
"Not only did Philip Ruddock . . . thumb his nose at a finding and recommendation of a government tribunal, he then went on to criticise and malign the family, in . . . a vicious and cowardly way," he said.
Mr Ruddock, who is now Australia's Attorney-General, says he acted lawfully in the case when he was immigration minister.
"It is the \ Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs that will be sued and the matter is in her hands," Mr Ruddock said.
Despite all that has happened to them, Shayan's mother Zahra said the family still "love Australia".
"Doctors said it would take a long time [for Shayan\] to get better and he needs extra help for caring and he needs security," Ms Badraie said.
"It's not just our child who is living like this, there are many children living like this in detention centre. We hope they understand why we do it and they improve something for another children."