Immigration detainee Nahi al-Sharify released on bail with visa breach charge
A former immigration detainee who was freed following the High Court verdict in November has been released on bail in Sydney despite an alleged repeated failure to report to Home Affairs.
A former immigration detainee who was freed following the High Court verdict in November has been released on bail in Sydney despite an alleged repeated failure to report to Home Affairs.
Iraqi immigrant Nahi al-Sharify appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Monday for allegedly breaching visa conditions.
Al-Sharify, released from detention in November, surrendered himself at the AFP headquarters in Sydney on Sunday where he was arrested for failing to report as directed under his commonwealth visa conditions.
It is alleged he failed to check-in over the phone daily with an immigration official 43 times in the space of a month and a half.
Al-Sharify, 40, was granted bail under the condition that he remains at his Parramatta address, reports once a week to the nearest police station, and complies with his daily telephone call to the visa reporting line.
Prosecutors sought one-year imprisonment for his breach of visa, as mandated under the Migration Act.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.
Defence barrister Peter Berg, argued that the alleged breaches occurred due to a combination of the man’s limited understanding of English, his workload as his brother’s carer, and cognitive impairment acquired due to repeated assault he endured in detention, along with medication taken for a kidney transplant.
The court head the defendant has previously worn an ankle monitor, and has no history of serious offence beyond the breach of bail.
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