Mother draws (Oil Portrait Painting) of life trapped on ASIO blacklist - smh.com.au

Oil Portrait Painting

But she is not allowed to know the reason why the guards are there, only that Australia's domestic spy agency has branded her a threat, a secret assessment she is not allowed to appeal.

Portrait Oil Painting

The Tamil woman Ranjini has become the face of the difficult impasse reached by the government over the indefinite detention of 54 refugees judged by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to be a risk to national security. ASIO has maintained the assessments must remain secret to protect methods and sources used to gather intelligence.

Oil Portrait Paintings

Labor has pledged to introduce a review mechanism for the assessments, but despite pressure from the backbench, has so far been daunted by the ''complexity'' of the task.

But the issue may be resolved by the High Court, with a challenge to the ASIO regime due to begin next week.

A widow who fled Sri Lanka's brutal civil war, Ranjini had lived in the community for more than a year and married her new husband in Melbourne before the Immigration Department delivered news she had been blacklisted and moved her to detention in Sydney.

Her husband, Ganesh, sat with her at the weekend as she drew pictures of her plight, confirming to The Age he has managed to find temporary work in Sydney to be closer to his family.

The drawing was passed to Anthony Bieniak, 22, a volunteer working with asylum seekers in Melbourne. He has set up a website, lettersforranjini.com, for people to write letters of support to the family.

The site was initially blocked from view inside the detention facility but after lobbying by Mr Bieniak, the Immigration Department lifted the ban.

Mr Bieniak said he wanted to see the asylum seeker debate move beyond statistics on boat arrivals. ''I just wanted a way to really focus on the human side of it, and thought the letters was a really good way,'' he said.