An Iranian asylum seeker who is set to be returned to Nauru is considering terminating her pregnancy rather than raising her child in the offshore detention centre.
There are heightened concerns that a group of asylum seekers with infant babies are scheduled to be returned to Nauru imminently, despite serious concerns about their wellbeing at the offshore detention centre.
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, and his department have both refused to comment despite the concerns.
Maryam – not her real name – is an Iranian asylum seeker who is currently being held in a Melbourne detention centre with her husband.
She was previously held at the detention centre on Nauru, but was brought to the mainland due to her husband’s deteriorating mental health. She subsequently fell pregnant, and is approximately 12 weeks into her pregnancy.
In a recording from Maryam that was subsequently passed to Guardian Australia, she pleaded directly to the Australian public to allow her to stay in Australia.
“Now I am pregnant and I don’t want to go to Nauru anymore. There is no security, safety and hygiene situation on Nauru. But immigration want to return me to Nauru by force.
“I’m begging you Australian people to help me, my husband and my baby. I don’t want to grow up my baby on Nauru.
“Please help me to stay in Australia and grow up my baby here with security, safety and acceptable mental health.”
The recording outlines the considerable fears held by asylum seekers that are facing the prospect of raising infant children on Nauru.
Guardian Australia reported earlier on Thursday that the immigration department defied advice from the welfare provider on Nauru not to transfer babies back to the facility.
A five-month-old baby that is the first to be returned to Nauru with her parents has developed gastroenteritis.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has written to Dutton asking him to act immediately to return the baby and the family back to an onshore centre.
The infants currently facing return to Nauru were all born in Australia after 4 December 2014. This date represents a cut-off point as part of a “one-off deal” made by then immigration minister Scott Morrison with crossbench senator Ricky Muir to pass the federal government’s temporary protection visa legislation.
