Immigrant not being held illegally, court rules

A magistrate yesterday turned down an application by an illegal migrant whose application for refugee status had been rejected. The court ruled that his detention was not illegal because he was being held in custody until he was deported.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard how Kinfe Asmelash Gebrezgabiher, 33 had been held in detention for a year, during which time his request for refugee status had been turned down because he failed to prove he was Eritrean.

"The court cannot see how it could ever order that a man who did not have a permit to be in Malta could be released when he was waiting to be deported," she said.

"It is obvious that an individual's freedom is a sacrosanct right and authorities ought to do anything possible and within reason to ensure that the period of time an individual is held in custody is the shortest possible, especially in similar cases where the person would not be charged with committing a crime," she stressed.

In his application, Mr Gebrezgabiher explained that he was born in Eritrea but had to leave his homeland because of political instability.

As he tried to make his way to southern Europe, he ended up in Malta on June 28, last year, and was arraigned over charges related to illegal immigration.

He had applied for refugee status but, on February 1, the Commission for Refugees turned down his application. Some time later the Refugees' Appeal's Board confirmed the commission's decision.

His application had been turned down because he had failed to prove he was Eritrean and, as such, eligible to refugee status.

Mr Gebrezgabiher insisted that he had proven his nationality from the several documents he had produced. He added that in 2002, the UNHCR had issued a recommendation to governments not to deport Eritreans but grant them humanitarian status.

However, he had been held in detention at Lyster Barracks in Hal Far since his arrival here a year ago.

In his application he called on the magistrate to declare his detention illegal and order his release.

After evaluating the case, Magistrate Scerri Herrera noted that since Mr Gebrezgabiher's application for refugee status had been dismissed, a removal order had been issued against him.

This meant that he was currently being detained on the strength of that order and the law allowed that "upon such order having been made, such person shall be detained in custody until he is removed from Malta".

For this reason, in the circumstances, it did not result that he was being detained illegally.