Australian hospital refuses to release baby for detention on Nauru

PERTH, Australia: Doctors at an Australian hospital are refusing to release a baby girl facing repatriation to an offshore immigration detention camp, after she was treated for serious burns, adding to pressure on the government over its tough asylum seekers policy.

The one-year-old girl will not be released from Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in the city of Brisbane until a "suitable home environment is identified", a hospital spokesman told Reuters on Saturday.

The girl and her parents face being returned to a camp on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, about 3,000 km northeast of Australia.

The detention centre, which houses more than 500 people, has been widely criticised for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse.

Earlier this month the High Court rejected a legal test case that challenged Australia’s right to deport 267 refugee children and their families who had been brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the asylum seekers will be treated "with compassion" and deportation will be decided "on a case by case basis."