on 21-02-2016 07:42 AM
Asylum seeker baby Asha's advocate says she has been banned from seeing Asha's mother by immigration police, as fears mount she is about to be taken away.
Twelve-month-old Asha was taken to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane suffering burns she received from boiling water while in detention on Nauru.
Although she has recovered, doctors and nurses at the hospital are refusing to discharge Asha unless she is provided with a safe home.
Former Nauru detention centre caseworker and family advocate Natasha Blucher says when she spoke to the baby's mum on Saturday morning, something was wrong.
'I called mum at 9am, and she told me that about 7am, some immigration officers had come to her room and told her she was leaving,' Ms Blucher told AAP on Saturday.
She said Asha's mother was told she would need to leave with plain-clothes officers waiting for her downstairs and that she needed to go quietly.
'When asked, 'where are you taking me', they declined to tell her, and said it was neither the community, Nauru or a detention centre,' Ms Blucher said.
But at 8am, a doctor came in and told Asha's mum that she was safe, as he would not be
discharging her unless he was satisfied a safe home was waiting for Asha.
That was the last Ms Blucher heard from the mother.
When she called at 3.15pm, she says she was told by immigration officers that Asha's mum could no longer make or receive calls.
'The Serco officers said they had been informed by border police that she was not allowed any calls - not even from her lawyers,' Ms Blucher told AAP.
'To hold someone incommunicado like that to me says you're about to do something that's not in their interest,' she said.
Refugee advocates have since surrounded the hospital in hope of blocking any officers who attempt to take Asha away.
GetUp Queensland spokeswoman Ellen Roberts said about 200 protesters were outside the hospital, and would maintain a 24-hour presence until they received confirmation about the family's plight.
Hmmm...sinister moves afoot?
on 23-02-2016 03:25 PM
@creative*crisis wrote:
@debra9275 wrote:I think it's just a smear campaign CC
no other news service has picked up that story so far.
It reminds me of when these so called 'guards' accused the save the chidlren workers of some wrong doing that when investigated , showed there was absolutely no basis to it
I sincerely hope it proves to be unfounded, don't really want to contemplate it being true.
same here CC... still no other news services reporting that story other than Murdoch's newscorp
on 23-02-2016 03:28 PM
here's a copy of the hospital report.
on 23-02-2016 03:33 PM
on 23-02-2016 03:47 PM
they pick up the story from Sky I think Stawka- original story Courier Mail
here's another one
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/02/23/i-didnt-tell-mum-burn-asha-refugee-advocate
on 23-02-2016 03:49 PM
OK Debra. It's just that I didn't see any discussion about this development.
Unless I missed it
on 23-02-2016 05:14 PM
Are they really so dumb that they can think they could get away with something like this again? The only thing that will be achieve is to remind Australia how low they will stoop.
on 23-02-2016 05:16 PM
The reason mum has to boil all the water is, there is no water of drinkable safe quality on Nauru, bottled water is flown in and regularly runs out.
on 23-02-2016 06:18 PM
Is it just coincidence, I wonder, that no official accusation of deliberate injury was made until after the campaign to prevent her being sent back became headline news (insert cynical smiley here)
on 23-02-2016 06:23 PM
I can't post any links atm, but the Qld police do not back the story printed in this morning's Courier Mail
Dutton has denied bring the "leak" for that story 😃
on 23-02-2016 06:38 PM
Baby Asha: Doctor's letter suggests 'no evidence' child's injuries deliberately inflicted
Asylum seeker advocates have released a letter they say shows Brisbane doctors found no evidence Baby Asha was harmed deliberately while in detention on Nauru.
A letter from a clinician at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital burns centre, sent to the ABC's RN Breakfast program by asylum seeker advocates, states that a 12-month-old girl (name obscured) was injured when she "pulled a bowl containing recently boiled water off a table onto herself".
The letter goes on to state: "There is no clinical evidence that the burn injury was non-accidental."
Baby Asha was at the centre of a 10-day standoff between the Federal Government and medical staff at the Brisbane hospital, with doctors saying they would not discharge the baby until a safe housing environment was found for Asha and her mother.
Can't seem to be able to post a link but you can google it