Unemployed … Charif is being treated for depression. Photo: Ben Rushton

THE federal government faces a wave of costly litigation for compensation over its treatment of refugees in immigration detention centres, including Villawood, as lawyers examine the cases of scores of former inmates.

The Social Justice Network, an advocacy group based in western Sydney, has referred more than 40 cases to the law firm Slater & Gordon to assess their eligibility to sue the Commonwealth for allegedly breaching its duty of care towards asylum seekers who developed mental illnesses while in detention.

”This could cost Australia hundreds of millions of dollars,” said the network’s spokesman, Jamal Daoud, who describes it as a ”mass action”.

”We want to see these people compensated because they have suffered a lot. A lot of them immediately after they were released into the community were granted disability pensions and were very young people,” Mr Daoud said.

One of the cases being considered is Charif Asaad, 35, who came to Australia 12 years ago on a visitor’s visa from Syria in fear for his life. After working illegally in the construction industry until 2005, he was held at Villawood for three years. There, he claims he was handcuffed during epileptic seizures. A serious lung condition which left him short of breath and prone to collapse was left untreated.

Since being released he has been unable to work and has been taking medication for depression. “I always feel angry all the time. Anything stresses me out. I feel short of breath.”

“I feel very bad that a country such as Australia treat a refugee as an animal or less than an animal. Whatever they give me is not enough because they have taken the best of me. Now if I walk for 15 minutes I feel like I am going to fall down in the road”, Mr Asaad said.

Ben Phi, the practice group leader for Slater & Gordon, which has already successfully pursued several compensation cases for former detainees, said people who come out of detention with psychiatric injuries after having been found to be refugees enter the community “already at a serious disadvantage rather than being able to go out to work and contribute”.

The time people are spending in detention has increased, which contributes to mental illness, he added.

In a legal caution which has implications for federal and opposition plans to process asylum seekers offshore, including Malaysia, Mr Phi said the federal government owes the duty of care to provide adequate medical and psychiatric services to detainees found to be refugees wherever they are held.

By late last year, the federal government had paid $18 million in compensation to asylum seekers for unlawful detention and $5 million for negligence to former detainees.