Thousands of letters addressed to asylum seekers in offshore detention have been returned unopened to their Australian senders.
The letters contained self-addressed stamped envelopes and writing paper so asylum seekers could reply.
The immigration department is being asked for an explanation after human rights barrister Julian Burnside received three boxes of unopened letters.
"I think it's part of a calculated campaign by the department to deprive asylum seekers of hope," he told AAP on Tuesday.
Mr Burnside, who spent $10,000 of his own money to support the pen-pal campaign, believes the department may have also broken the law by interfering with the delivery of mail.
An immigration department official had assured him eight months ago that the letters were being distributed to asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Mr Burnside ran a similar letter-writing campaign in the early 2000s and was told by refugees it had lifted their spirits.
A spokesman for the immigration department said service providers at the Nauru and Manus centres had tried to deliver the letters to asylum seekers but most had departed or were unwilling to accept them.
The department had been in contact with Mr Burnside and organised the return of the letters at his request, the spokesman said.
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