Australia temporarily releases Sri Lankan asylum seeker family after two years island detention

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will allow a Sri Lankan asylum seeker family detained on Christmas Island since 2019 to live in community detention on the mainland after public anger over their separation when the youngest child became sick and was flown to a major hospital.

The Tamil family of four, the only occupants of the Christmas Island detention centre in the Indian Ocean, have become a cause celebre for those seeking closure of Australia's offshore immigration detention centres.