Another immigration detainee arrested over visa conditions

Another immigration detainee has been arrested in Sydney after allegedly breaching visa conditions, this time a 28-year-old Afghan-born man.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Another immigration detainee has been arrested in Sydney after allegedly breaching visa conditions, this time a 28-year-old Afghan-born man.

Abbas Ali Fatehi appeared before Magistrate Christopher Longley at the Parramatta Local Court on Saturday, charged with failing to comply with his visa-mandated curfew conditions.

The 28-year-old was refused bail and remanded in custody after fronting the court without any legal representation.

NSW Police prosecutor Daniel Symington told the court Mr Fatehi breached a condition of his Commonwealth visa on two separate occasions by failing to observe his residential curfew obligations.

He was then charged by AFP officers on Friday with two counts of failing to comply with a curfew condition.

The matter was adjourned for a committal hearing at the Local Crime Court in Burwood on September 25, where the accused will appear via visual link.

Mr Fatehi was one of the 159 immigration detainees released back into the community last year following a landmark NZYQ High Court ruling, which found it unlawful to hold stateless refugees if there was no real prospect of their removal from Australia.

This offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.’

The Australian had previously revealed a quarter of the foreign offenders freed under the controversial High Court ruling were charged with a crime since their release, piling pressure on Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke to ask the courts to re-detain the released criminals.

At least 40 out of the 159 former detainees were slapped with a criminal charge since their release in November.