Asylum family protest in Australia

A family of Iraqi asylum seekers has begun a hunger strike at a remote immigration detention centre in Western Australia.

Immigration officials say four members of the Kadem family - father Abdul, mother Ban and two teenage sons - are refusing food in an attempt to compel the authorities to transfer them to another centre.

They also want the government to reverse its decision to deport one of their family members.

Last week, two members of the family held a three day roof-top protest at the Port Hedland detention centre with other detainees.

During the action, the family claimed officials had tricked one of their sons, who is mentally ill, into signing deportation papers.

The Kadems have been in detention since arriving in Australia on an Indonesian fishing boat in 1999.