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An Iraqi doctor being held in an Australian detention centre was refused permission to attend an award ceremony at which he was to be honoured for an article he wrote on the psychological damage caused by incarceration.

Dr Aamer Sultan fled persecution under Saddam Hussein's regime after treating Sh'ite Muslim rebels injured in fighting with government forces.

He arrived in Australia via Turkey in 1999 and was immediately sent to Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney, where he has been held since.

Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission gave him the award for an article he wrote in this month's Medical Journal of Australia  on the health of asylum seekers.

Dr Sultan was refused permission to attend the award ceremony on Sunday by the Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, who has written to the journal to complain about what he says are factual errors in the essay.

'Detention is not arbitrary, it is humane and is not designed to be punitive,' Mr Ruddock said.

The article, co-authored with consultant psychologist Kevin O'Sullivan, warned that prolonged confinement in immigration detention centres could have severe psychological effects.

Dr Sultan said he was disappointed that his written request to attend the award ceremony was denied, but the award gave him some encouragement.

'It just gave me a sort of hope that some people in this country are sticking to international human standards,' he said.

A lecturer in psychology who received the award on Dr Sultan's behalf, Zachary Steel, called the Government's decision 'a very sad indictment' of Australia.

Meanwhile, the Government has come under more criticism for its policy of turning boat people away from Australia's shores or, if they do reach the country, locking them in detention centres.

In a report released yesterday, the Catholic Church's Commission for Justice, Development and Peace accused Canberra of using violence and intimidation against asylum seekers.

'For the first time ever, Australia has refused to assist a boat-load of rescued refugees,' the commission's executive officer, Mark Purcell, said, referring to the Government's refusal to allow about 350 asylum seekers aboard the Norwegian container ship Tampa to land at Christmas Island in August.

'The practice of intimidation and violence against defenceless refugees is unprecedented.'

Another critic, Chris Sidoti, of the Human Rights Council, said Australia was in flagrant breach of its human rights obligations and there was little hope of improvement while John Howard remained Prime Minister.

Mr Sidoti said that while the Government claimed it was pro-family, that was not reflected in the treatment of asylum seekers and their children, who were detained for years.

In a final blow, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has advised its members to carefully consider their ethical obligations before agreeing to work in detention centres.

The controversy over refugees is unlikely to recede.

Australian air force planes yesterday searched for the crew of the latest boat of asylum seekers that landed undetected at the remote Australian territory of the Cocos Islands, depositing 69 Sri Lankans.



Asylum-seeker academic barred from collecting award