Starting today, the High Court will hear a case to decide if the government’s indefinite detention of a bisexual Iranian man is lawful, partly because he is unwilling to voluntarily assist with the government’s attempts to deport him.
While the case turns on a narrow question of Australian constitutional law, it also raises urgent concerns about the human consequences of a flawed and discriminatory “fast-track” legal process for determining the status of asylum seekers who arrive by boat.
The case is tied to widely criticised immigration reforms the Albanese government is attempting to push through parliament. The reforms seek to punish people who do not actively cooperate in their own deportation, even in cases where people have good reasons for not cooperating or when certain countries, like Iran, do not accept the forced return of their citizens.
This draft legislation was prompted by the release of some 150 detainees from immigration detention following another High Court decision last year.
Refugees and refugee advocates will be watching today’s case closely as it may result in further, important limits on the immigration minister’s power to keep people indefinitely in detention. It could also affect up to 200 people currently being detained.
The case has been brought by a man known by the pseudonym “ASF17”, who claims a genuine fear of serious harm if he is forcibly deported to Iran, a country where sexual activity between men is illegal and can be punished by death.
Even though ASF17 arrived by boat in July 2013, he was only permitted to apply for refugee status in August 2015. In 2017, a officer in the then-Department of Immigration and Border Protection rejected his refugee visa application.........