A decision taken by the Principal Immigration Officer to remove the right of freedom of movement granted to a Moroccan woman was annulled by a court which found that the principles of natural justice had not been observed.

The court heard that Kevin Brincat and Najat Ejjebli married in Malta in April 1998, some six months after they first met, and took up residence in Birkirkara.  In May of that year, Ms Ejjebli was granted freedom of movement though her request for Maltese nationality had been rejected.

In September 1998, Mr Brincat was arrested and repeatedly imprisoned for periods of less than one year each until November 2004.  Ms Ejjebli said she had not been granted permission to visit her husband in prison and the prison authorities told the court that when Mr Brincat was registered within the correctional facilities he was listed as being a bachelor.

It was only in April 2005, when Ms Ejjebli tried renewing her passport, that she was informed that her right to freedom of movement had been revoked as a result of an administrative decision taken in August 2002.  The couple filed their court case in 2005 claiming abuse of administrative discretion.

In its judgment, the court, presided by Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, said that there was no doubt that the couple were married and that no proceedings for separation had ever been filed.  

It resulted that the Principal Immigration Officer had based his decision on notes taken by a police inspector at a time when Mr Brincat was serving a prison sentence in November 2004.  The officer had noted that Ms Ejjebli had not visited her husband in prison.  This led the officer to conclude that the couple were separated as a state of fact.

The court found that the failure on the part of the authorities to tell Ms Ejjebli of the removal of her right to freedom of movement for three years was unreasonable.  Furthermore, the lack of prison visits did not mean that the couple were no longer cohabiting.

The court found in favour of the couple and annulled the decision of the Principal Immigration Officer.