January 3, 2024
Wednesday 3 January 2024
Alexi Demetriadi
The Australian
Two more freed asylum seekers have been arrested by the Australian Federal Police over the festive break following 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 also 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 High Court decision in November that ruled indefinite detention was unlawful. He was arrested on New Year’s Eve, the AFP said in a statement.
Nadari had previously been arrested in early December for alleged drug possession. 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-yearold Iranian, was arrested on Christmas Eve in Perth by the AFP, and was also charged with breaching curfew conditions.
Nadari remains in custody after officers rearrested him in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands.
“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 in a statement.
“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.”
Citing police facts tendered to Parramatta Local Court, media reports said “high-risk” 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 10 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 new preventive detention laws that were passed in December.
“It is simply not good enough that criminal non-citizens continue to roam the streets and reoffend when they could be behind bars,” Senator Paterson 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 Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles in December after the court ruling.
Thereafter, the government introduced new laws that allow 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 legislation also allows authorities to enforce targeted restrictions such as curfews, electronic monitoring devices and strict visa conditions.
