Iranian man loses bid for release from Australian immigration detention | Migration news

Judicial rule detention may be justified when an individual refuses to cooperate in his or her deportation.

Australia’s High Court has rejected a closely watched proposal from an Iranian asylum seeker who demanded to be released from immigration detention because he feared being detained indefinitely.

The man has resisted deportation from Australia since 2018, arguing he was at risk due to his sexual orientation and religious beliefs.

Known only as ASF17, he took legal action following a ruling last November in favor of a detained Rohingya man that found his detention without any reasonable prospect of release or deportation to be unlawful. The discovery led to the release of dozens of people from immigration detention centers.

But on Friday, the High Court unanimously ruled that ASF17’s case was different, noting that his continued detention was the result of his decision not to cooperate in his deportation.

“ASF17 could be removed to Iran if it cooperated in the process of obtaining the necessary travel documents from Iranian authorities,” public broadcaster ABC informed the judges. “He decided not to cooperate. He has the ability to change his mind. He chooses not to.”

They noted that the Australian government assessed he did not need protection.

The case was being closely watched by refugee advocacy groups and the government, and dozens of other people would likely be released if the court ruled in the Iranian’s favor.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles welcomed the court’s decision, saying the government “fought hard” to defend its position in the case. Government lawyers questioned the man’s claim to be at risk and argued that detention was justified when someone did not cooperate in his removal.

“We welcome the Court’s unanimous decision today, which concluded that individuals who do not cooperate with their own removal can remain in immigration detention until they are removed from Australia,” Giles said in a statement. “The safety of the community remains our highest priority and we will continue to take all necessary measures to keep Australians as safe as possible.”

ASF17, who is now 37 years old, arrived in Australia more than a decade ago in a small boat. He said he fled Iran after his wife caught him having sex with a man.

Under Operation Sovereign Borders, people arriving by boat are detained in prison-like facilities, some of them offshore, with no possibility of being resettled in Australia.