Australia has recently released 81 foreigners, including three murderers, following a High Court decision deeming their indefinite detention in migrant centers unconstitutional, announced Immigration Minister Andrew Giles on Tuesday.
While the court has not disclosed the reasons behind its ruling overturning a 2004 precedent allowing the indefinite detention of stateless individuals, the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Center reported last month that 127 people had been held for more than five years, averaging 709 days.
Australia’s center-left government, opposing the release of foreign and stateless detainees whom the country doesn’t wish to resettle, faced accusations from opposition lawmakers of jeopardizing public safety by releasing what they termed “hardcore criminals.”
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles revealed that three of the released criminals were convicted murderers, including Sirul Azhar Umar, a former police officer sentenced in absentia by a Malaysian court in 2015 for the dismemberment of a Mongolian woman using military-grade explosives. Giles clarified that Australia couldn’t extradite him to a country with capital punishment. Details on the other two murderers were not provided.
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley emphasized the case of Aliyawar Yawari, an Afghan-born individual labeled a “violent sex predator.” Ley disclosed that the 65-year-old, convicted of multiple offenses against elderly women, moved into a Perth motel after release.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil defended the release, stating that the freed individuals faced stringent visa conditions, with some required to report to the police daily. The High Court’s decision, prompted by a case involving a member of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, has ignited debates over Australia’s detention policies.
