The police have refused to disclose when an Algerian immigrant, who won a human rights case against Malta last week, will be deported from the island.

When asked, through the formal channels, when Khaled Louled Massoud was to be deported, the police replied: “Please note that this request (for information) has not been approved.” They did not give a reason.

Mr Massoud had arrived in Malta as an illegal immigrant in 2006 and was later imprisoned for helping people enter Malta illegally. After that he spent just over 18 months in detention at Safi but his asylum application was rejected. About two weeks ago he was arrested for deportation.

A week later he was awarded €12,000 in compensation by the European Court of Human Rights which ruled that the Maltese system failed to protect him from an unnecessarily long and arbitrary detention period.

The court found that he had been deprived of his right to liberty and security under a government detention policy that had “no legal force”. The fact that the Immigration Act did not stipulate a minimum time of detention meant that Mr Massoud did not have a legal tool with which to contest his detention.

Asked if the Immigration Act would be revised following the judgment, the government said it would seek the advice of the Attorney General and may be appealing the case.

A Ministry spokesman said he had no comment to make before the ministry studied the judgment in more detail and received the AG’s advice.

The Justice Ministry was asked whether he would be deported before an appeal was filed and before being paid the €12,000 owed to him through the judgment.

A ministry spokesman said: “Malta is under a legal obligation to deport Mr Massoud as soon as arrangements are made to that effect and deportation is possible.

“Saving any further action which the government may consider opportune to take in respect of the judgment in question, in virtue of the same judgment Malta is under an obligation to pay the compensation ordered by the court whether before or after deportation.”

The spokesman said the date of deportation was to be sought from the police immigration section.

Meanwhile, Mr Massoud’s lawyer, Michael Camilleri said he was confident the government would live up to the ECHR judgment. Mr Massoud had granted him a power of attorney to take care of matters when he was sent back to Algeria.

Katrine Camilleri, from the Jesuit Refugee Services in Malta, explained that the fact that Mr Massoud would be deported “should not mean he will not get paid.”

Although being away from Malta made matters more complicated, the execution of the payment depended on several factors, she said. Mr Massoud could appoint someone in Malta to act on his behalf which meant that it then depended on whether he kept in contact with that person.