Iranian man loses bid to be freed from Australian immigration detention

Court rules detention can be justified when an individual is refusing to cooperate in their deportation.

Australia’s High Court has dismissed a closely-watched bid by an Iranian asylum seeker demanding to be released from immigration detention because he feared being held indefinitely.

The man has been resisting deportation from Australia since 2018, arguing that he would be at risk because of his sexual orientation and religious beliefs.

Known only as ASF17, he took legal action after a ruling last November in favour of a detained Rohingya man that found detention with no reasonable prospect of release or deportation was illegal. The finding led to dozens of people being freed from immigration detention centres.

But on Friday, the High Court ruled unanimously that ASF17’s case was different, noting that his continued detention was the result of his decision not to cooperate in his deportation.

“ASF17 could be removed to Iran if he cooperated in the process of obtaining the requisite travel documents from Iranian authorities,” public broadcaster ABC reported the judges as saying. “He has decided not to cooperate. He has the capacity to change his mind. He chooses not to do so.”