High Court to hear appeal of an Iranian person seeking asylum detained for nearly a decade

The High Court is set to hear an appeal brought by an Iranian man who has been detained for nearly a decade while seeking asylum. The appeal will determine for the first time whether the Federal Court has the power to direct that a person be detained at a location in the community, rather than a detention centre.

The man bringing the appeal, who goes by the name Ned Kelly Emeralds, is represented by the Human Rights Law Centre. Ned arrived in Australia by boat from Iran in 2013 and has been detained since that time.

For two decades, the offshore detention policies of Australian governments have cruelly and arbitrarily discriminated against people seeking safety based on how they arrived. A maze of discriminatory laws enacted by successive governments has meant that people who arrived at the same time as Ned were either transferred to Regional Processing Countries, granted temporary protection visas or held in detention while their status was resolved.

The appeal will have important implications for hundreds of people in indefinite immigration detention. The average time spent by people in immigration detention has reached record levels, at 780 days. More than one hundred people have been in immigration detention for over five years.

The appeal also comes after the Albanese Government recently extended permanent protection to 19,000 people who arrived in Australia by sea before 2014.

The Human Rights Law Centre calls on the Albanese Government to recognise that all people have a right to permanent protection.

Ned Kelly Emeralds, who is preparing for his appeal to be heard, said: “I have been kept in a cage and denied any possibility of release for nearly ten years. I hope that my case shows the powers that Ministers have over people’s lives – if the Minister wants it, you can be locked up for a decade, sent to Nauru or given a permanent visa. But everyone deserves an equal chance to make a life in freedom.”

Farhad Bandesh, an activist and artist who was detained on Manus Island, said: “We fled our countries to find freedom and safety. Instead, Australian governments have built prison camps to torture us, keep us away from the Australian people and spread fear about us. It is time for this government to acknowledge our suffering and treat us with equality, dignity and respect. We are all human beings.”

Aran Mylvaganam of the Tamil Refugee Council said: “This case perfectly illustrates the arbitrariness and cruelty of Australia’s offshore detention regime – people on the same boat could end up divided between Nauru or Manus, living in Australia or being locked in detention for a decade. Everyone deserves a single solution – a permanent home in Australia.”

Sanmati Verma, Managing Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, who represents Ned, said: “The Albanese Government must act to eliminate the discriminatory distinctions between people seeking asylum based on when and how they arrived in Australia. It has started on that task – it must have the conviction to complete it.”

Background

Ned arrived in Australia by boat from Iran in 2013 and has been detained since that time. Last year, the Federal Court found that, because of the date of his arrival, Ned should have been taken to a Regional Processing Country. Instead, he was shipped around different detention centres in Australia while his Protection visa application was processed.

In 2016, Ned was found to be owed protection by an officer of the Department of Home Affairs. But, instead of issuing him with a visa, a second officer refused his application in 2018. Since then, Ned has been navigating the broken “fast track” protection process.

The Federal Court ordered that Ned be released from Perth detention centre and transferred to the home of friends in Perth, until his immigration status was resolved. But then Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews exercised her personal powers to prevent Ned’s removal to a Regional Processing Country, as a result of which the Court’s orders could not come into effect.

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au