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Fears For Asylum Seeker Baby Asha Being Taken From A Brisbane Hospital

Fears For Asylum Seeker Baby Asha Being Taken From A Brisbane Hospital
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Concerns are growing that asylum seeker baby 'Asha' faces imminent deportation from the Brisbane hospital she is being kept in, according to an advocate close to the family.

Natasha Blucher, a Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network advocacy co-ordinator, said on Saturday the one-year-old's removal could occur sooner than thought.

It is believed immigration officers have warned baby Asha would be moved from Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital on Saturday, but a Children's Health Queensland spokesman said the baby's situation had not changed.

Ms Blucher said her dealings with detention centres had led her to the conclusion Asha was about to be removed.

"I deal with a lot of transfers between detention centres and offshore, it's always the practice to remove the person from the compound normally and then hold them incommunicado," Ms Blutcher told Fairfax Media.

"So they're not allowed to call their lawyers, their lawyers aren't allowed to call them.

"They're not allowed to call their support people or tell any friends where they are, and then they get transferred after that.My concern is because they're holding her incommunicado, it could be part of that transfer process but it could also be just to deny her the right to speak to people who are providing support to her."

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