Freed immigration detained Mohammed Ali Nadari sentenced over cannabis bust as Labor blames High Court for debacle
Labor is refusing to reveal criminal histories of detainees released as part of a High Court ruling, but it could be a step closer to locking some of those with the worst records back up.
Police & Courts
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Labor is refusing to reveal the criminal history of immigration detainees released into the community, rejecting blame for the deepening crisis as a third man is arrested since being freed.
The Coalition has demanded the federal government apologise for the “mess” surrounding its response to last month’s High Court ruling that led to the release of 148 non-citizens, including convicted murderers, rapists and child sex offenders.
On Tuesday the Senate passed Labor’s proposed preventative detention regime, paving the way for a vote in the lower house later this week that would then allow the government to ask courts to put high risk offenders back in prison.
But Labor’s parliamentary win was overshadowed by its flailing response to the High Court decision, with a statement from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus arguing the government could not legally lock up all of the offenders criticised by the Coalition as “pathetic”.
“Quite frankly (the government) should be standing in front of the cameras today and apologising to the Australian people for the mess they have now got Australians in,” Opposition attorney-general spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said.
On Tuesday it was revealed the former ringleader of a child exploitation gang had become the third criminal arrested since his release after allegedly breaching his reporting obligations and making contact with minors.
The Herald Sun revealed Emran Dad, 33, has been arrested in Dandenong amid allegations he has breached his reporting obligations and made contact with minors.
He has this week been charged with nine counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations, including by contacting a child, and for allegedly using a mobile phone service and creating an email, TikTok, Instagram and Bigo account without informing police.
Dad is also charged with trespassing after he allegedly refused to leave a public area on November 24.
It comes after another sex predator, Afghan refugee Aliyawa Yawari, was remanded in custody on two charges related to his alleged indecent assault of a woman in Adelaide just weeks after the 65-year-old was released from Yongah Hill detention facility in Western Australia.
NSW police have also charged another released detainee, 45-year-old Mohammed Ali Nadari, for drug possession after he was allegedly found with cannabis on Saturday.
The office of Immigration Minister Andrew Giles did not respond to questions about if and when the government would provide a list of the offences committed by the cohort of released detainees, despite previously promising the information to the opposition.
Instead Labor has only released a “dashboard” that lists the broad categories under which a larger cohort of offenders failed the character test in the Migration Act.
In Question Time Ms Cash asked the government why it could not “keep children safe” and for assurances no one else would become a “victim of crime perpetrated by any of the released detainees”.
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong said everyone wanted children to be safe and rejected
“assertions” from the Coalition the government was “wanting to release (detainees) into the community”.
“We are not a government that can or will instruct public servants to act unlawfully,” she said.
“We have responded to the High Court decision by legislating these conditions and we are working to implement a (preventative detention) model.”
Ms Wong said the government had released the detainees in accordance with the law.
“Everyone in this chamber wants our children safe,” she said.
Ms Wong rejected the “assertions” from the Coalition that Labor was “wanting to release people into the community”.
“We are not a government that can or will instruct public servants to act unlawfully,” she said.
“We have responded to the High Court decision by legislating these conditions and we are working to implement a (preventative detention) model.”
Ms Wong turned the attack back on the Coalition, demanding they commit to supporting the preventative detention bill due to be voted on this week that would allow the government to apply to have some of the worst offenders locked up again.
Revealed: Freed High Court detainee’s history of violence
An immigration detainee found in possession of prohibited drugs less than a week after being released by the High Court has a disturbing history of violent and perverted crimes, a court has heard.
Mohammed Ali Nadari, 45, was among a cohort of 148 detainees released from permanent immigration detention since November 8 when the High Court ruled a stateless Rohingya man, known only as NZYQ, convicted of child sex abuse could not be indefinitely detained.
Less than a week after walking free from detention, Ali Nadari was found in possession of two grams of cannabis during a routine search of a series of abandoned buildings in Merrylands on Saturday.
Documents tendered to Parramatta Local Court said Ali Nadari was stopped by police as he entered the property through a broken fence.
He was stopped and asked to produce identification, at which time he was seen to take three small bags of cannabis out of his wallet and throw them behind him.
CONVICTED IN ABSENCE
Ali Nadari was arrested and charged with possessing a prohibited drug.
He was remanded in custody overnight but freed on conditional bail on Sunday.
He did not turn up to court on Monday and was convicted in his absence and fined $300.
In documents tendered to the court, arresting police said Ali Nadari had a lengthy criminal history including charges of “maliciously causing grievous bodily harm, discharging a [fire]arm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and committing an act of indecency”.
The documents also reveal he has other criminal matters of a less serious nature including contravening an apprehended violence order, assault, theft, larceny, resisting police and drug possession.
‘LIVING ON THE STREET’
Police said Ali Nadari `was unemployed and had “no fixed place of abode”, telling police upon his arrest that he was “living on the street.”
Meanwhile, Ali Nadari may be among the released detainees targeted under proposed changes to legislation set to be introduced in the Senate next week.
The changes, understood to be modelled on the High Risk Terrorist Offenders Regime, would allow the government to apply to the courts to re-detain high risk offenders, rather than a minister unilaterally deciding.
However, the Coalition, which has been highly critical of the government’s handling of the issue, has revealed they will not rubber stamp the changes as outlined, and have called for new tough preventative detention laws to be introduced.
The proposed changes come as another recently released detainee, Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari, 65, was arrested in South Australia at the weekend and charged with two counts of indecent assault.
Less than a month after he was released from the Yongah Hill detention facility in Western Australia and forced to wear an electronic ankle monitor, SA police allege Yawari indecently assaulted a woman at an Adelaide motel where he was staying on Saturday night.
He was convicted for assaulting three elderly women between 2013 and 2014.
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