High Court Says Immigration Detention Legal In Non-cooperation Cases

The High Court of Australia ruled that the government can hold asylum seekers in detention indefinitely if they did not cooperate with their deportation, marking a major victory for Australian authorities.

The new verdict overruled the court's ruling last year that holding a person in immigration detention is unlawful when there is no real prospect of them being deported in the near future. This decision favored the release of more than 100 detainees.

Today's verdict was granted in the case of an Iranian asylum seeker known by the pseudonym ASF17ASF17, in detention for the last 10 years, who fought deportation as he "fears for his life" because he is bisexual, Christian and a Faili Kurd.

According to The Guardian report, Six justices, in a joint judgment, said that "ASF17 could be removed to Iran if he cooperated in the process of obtaining the requisite travel documents from Iranian authorities. He has decided not to cooperate. He has the capacity to change his mind. He chooses not to do so."

Welcoming the decision, Immigration minister, Andrew Giles, said the government had "fought strongly to defend our position in the high court" and welcomed its unanimous decision."

If the court had ruled in favor of the Iranian, the government would have to release about 200 detainees who are in immigration detention in Australia.

Lisa De Ferrari SC, the counsel for ASF17, argued that the government "straight-jacketed itself", by taking a rigid approach and that Australian authorities could not find another country to take him. She added that her client would have gone to "even war-ravaged Gaza".

She also pointed to Iran's practice of not accepting people forcibly deported, ABC News reported.

Currently, Australia has about 200 detainees, who are refusing to cooperate with efforts to deport them, and another 1,200 people awaiting deportation could also create a problem for authorities if they tried to prevent their deportation.