The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers today expressed concern at Malta’s proposed amendment to the Immigration Act, restating a provision criticised by the European Court of Human Rights, for release from custody not to be granted by the Immigration Appeals Board if the identity of an individual could not be verified.

The committee was commenting after the case of Algerian immigrant Khaled Louled Massoud, who had been awarded €12,000 by the ECHR in compensation, had been subjected to a more detailed examination.

The ECHR had ruled that the Maltese system failed to protect Mr Massoud from an unnecessarily long and arbitrary detention period and found that he had been deprived of his right to liberty and security when he was detained for about 18 months.

The committee “strongly urged the authorities” to reconsider the proposed amendment and to keep it informed of the outcome without delay.

It took note of the action plans submitted by the authorities on the measures proposed to increase the speed with which the Immigration Appeals Board would review applications for release but said that further clarification was required on the functioning and scope of review of this board.

It also noted the proposed legislative amendment to limit the detention of asylum seekers to nine months but considered that further clarifications were required as to whether or not decisions to detain asylum seekers were now taken after an individual assessment in each case, and as to the steps taken to improve detention conditions and to ensure that asylum proceedings were pursued with due diligence.

It invited the authorities to provide a consolidated updated action plan by April 1.

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