A senior member of the Human Rights Commission celebrated the High Court ruling that overturned indefinite detention, as it now emerges three immigration detainees have been arrested since their release.
The High Court on November 8 ruled that indefinite immigration detention is not constitutional where there is ‘no real prospect’ of deportation becoming ‘practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future’.
The decision resulted in the release of at least 148 people – including a number of dangerous criminals – whose detention met that condition.
Human Rights Commission deputy general counsel Graeme Edgerton gloated about the controversial legal decision in documents tabled in the Senate on Monday.
Human Rights Commission deputy general counsel Graeme Edgerton (right) gloated about the High Court’s ruling that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful
‘This is an amazing outcome that will have a practical impact for up to 92 people who are currently in immigration detention and may allow many former detainees to seek compensation for unlawful detention,’ he wrote to colleagues on November 9, according to the West Australian.
‘Equally importantly, it will change the way that Australia deals with asylum seekers in the future.’
Mr Edgerton said the commission had long fought for the outcome of the court’s verdict.
‘Important decisions like this do not happen in a vacuum. They are built on incremental work done by human rights defenders at the commission,’ he wrote.
‘It seems likely that, at the least, we can expect relevant Ministers to intervene at an earlier stage to grant visas to detainees or to place them into community detention arrangements.
‘It is important that the commission remains involved in ongoing scrutiny of how the decision of the court is implemented.’
Three immigration detainees have since been arrested following the November ruling.
Emran Dad, 33, was on Tuesday arrested in Dandenong, south-east of Melbourne, for allegedly making contact with minors on social media and breaching his reporting obligations.
![Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari was deemed a 'danger to the Australian community' by a South Australian judge in 2016 following attacks on three elderly women in 2013 and 2014](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/06/78583783-12826357-image-a-6_1701757673136.jpg)
Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari was deemed a ‘danger to the Australian community’ by a South Australian judge in 2016 following attacks on three elderly women in 2013 and 2014
He was charged with nine counts of failing to comply with his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender. He has also been charged with trespass.
Dad, who is from Afghanistan, was alleged to have run a prostitution ring that targeted underage girls in state care and was jailed for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in exchange for cigarettes.
Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Police have arrested a man today after he breached his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender.
‘The 33-year-old was arrested in Dandenong this morning without incident. Police are currently interviewing him.
‘Victoria Police can confirm the man is one of the detainees recently released following a High Court ruling. Victoria Police is always proactive in addressing community risk presented by those who would commit criminal acts.’
Dad’s arrest comes as it was revealed on Monday night that Australian authorities had arrested another two freed detainees.
Mohammed Ali Nadari was arrested in western Sydney last weekend just six days after being released following a controversial High Court decision.
He has a criminal history including serious crimes of violence, sex and firearms offences. Nadari was arrested for drug offences over the weekend.
Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari, 65, was arrested at the Pavlos Motel in Pooraka in Adelaide’s north on Saturday and charged with indecently assaulting a female guest.
Yawari remains before the courts.
![Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil (pictured) has come under fire over the court's ruling and the opposition has called for her resignation](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/05/06/78584151-12826357-image-a-7_1701757688662.jpg)
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil (pictured) has come under fire over the court’s ruling and the opposition has called for her resignation
It comes as pressure mounts for Anthony Albanese to sack Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles over the detention debacle.
Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said on Tuesday: ‘The time has come for the Prime Minister to do the right thing and ask for these ministers to resign, and if they don’t he should sack them.’
The pressure for heads to roll has only increased since it was revealed that the mass release could have been avoided had the Labor government released just one detainee: the Rohingya paedophile known as NZYQ, who has been in detention since serving a prison sentence for child sexual abuse and whose case the High Court challenge was based on.
Mr Tehan accused the government of failing to adequately prepare for the possibility of the High Court ruling that indefinite immigration detention was illegal.
‘We would have been making sure that in the months leading up to the High Court decision that we were looking at what legislation we could put in place to keep the community safe,’ he said.
‘The warnings were put out that there was a real worry that these people would reoffend, and that, sadly, it looks like allegedly that is what’s happened.’
Under the Federal government’s proposed amendments, preventative detention orders would apply to those released, including murderers and sex offenders, and are based on similar measures for high-risk terror offenders, Ms O’Neil said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would likely back the laws.
‘If the government has adequate measures to keep Australians safe, then we will support those measures and we’ll see what they have to say,’ he told reporters.
‘If we see a bad bill, we’re not going to support it.’
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