Freed asylum seeker Mohammed Ali Nadari back behind bars in Sydney
Two more freed asylum seekers have been arrested by the AFP over the festive break after alleged curfew breaches, bringing the total number of arrests since a landmark High Court ruling to at least seven.
Two more freed asylum seekers have been arrested by the Australian Federal Police over the festive break after alleged curfew breaches, bringing the total number of arrests since a landmark High Court ruling to at least seven.
A “high-risk” detainee is back behind bars after he was arrested again over the weekend in Sydney while the force arrested a 38-year-old Iranian man in Perth on Christmas Eve.
Mohammed Ali Nadari, 45, was one of the 148 asylum seekers released under a landmark High Court decision that ruled that indefinite detention was unlawful.
On New Year’s Eve, the AFP revealed it had arrested Nadari on Saturday, before he appeared at Parramatta Local Court the following day for allegedly failing to comply with his visa-mandated curfew.
Nadari was arrested in early December after he was allegedly caught in possession of 2g of cannabis.
It signifies another arrest for the federal government after the High Court’s November ruling that the 148 asylum seekers had to be released.
At least seven people, including Nadari, have now been arrested since the ruling.
They include 65-year-old Aliyawar Yawari, who faces two counts of indecently assaulting a woman in an Adelaide motel, and Emran Dad, 33, an ex-ringleader of a child exploitation group that preyed on children in state care, who appeared in Dandenong Magistrates Court in December on nine charges that included making contact with a child without a reasonable excuse.
Sudanese-born 45-year-old Abdelmoez Mohamed Elawad became the fourth former detainee to be arrested, with the AFP charging him with a failure to comply with his curfew and one count of theft for attempting to steal luggage from a sleeping traveller at Melbourne Airport.
William Yekrop, 39, was arrested in Queensland, NSW Police confirmed on December 7, “on an outstanding NSW revocation of parole arrest warrant”.
On December 8, 36-year-old Eritrean-born man Temesgen Tsegay Gebreyonas was arrested in Victoria and charged by the AFP for allegedly breaching his curfew conditions.
The seventh man, the 38-year-old Iranian, was arrested on Christmas Eve in Perth by the AFP.
Nadari remains in custody after officers rearrested him in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands, the AFP said in a statement.
“It will be alleged the man breached the conditions of his commonwealth visa between 15 and 28 December, by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations,” the federal police said.
“The man has been charged with 10 counts of failing to comply with a curfew condition… this offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.”
Media reporting, citing police facts tendered to Parramatta Local Court, said that Nadari had no fixed place of abode and was arrested at a known squatters haunt in Merrylands, before police arrested him after identifying him from his Immicard.
He has been charged with ten counts of failing to comply with curfew conditions and will next appear at the same court on January 19.
Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said the government must “urgently explain” when it intended to use its new preventive detention laws.
“It is simply not good enough that criminal non-citizens continue to roam the streets and reoffend when they could be behind bars,” the Senator said.
“Australians shouldn’t have to wait for the minister to get back to the office in the new year before action is taken to protect the community.”
It follows a period of turmoil for ministers Clare O’Neill and Andrew Giles in November and December after the ruling.
Thereafter, the government introduced and parliament passed new laws that allowed former immigration detainees to be locked up again if they pose any risk of committing serious offences.
Under the new laws, a court can also order the detention of the most serious offenders where they pose the risk of committing serious violent or sexual offences.
Along with preventive detention, the new law also allows authorities to enforce targeted restrictions like curfews, electronic monitoring devices and strict visa conditions.
In December, Mr Giles called the new regime “robust” as well as “considered, measured and responsible”.
“This bill proposes important amendments to the migration act that complement and reinforce amendments passed by the parliament on 18 November, 2023. On the 8th of November, in NZYQ case, the High Court determined that NZYQ’s detention was unlawful and I quote “by reason of their having been and continuing to be no real prospect of the removal of the plaintiff from Australia in the reasonably foreseeable future,” he said on December 6.
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