Supreme Court orders Iranian man’s release after ruling 12-month detention unlawful

Nicosia, Cyprus. The Supreme Court has ruled that an Iranian national detained for 12 months while awaiting deportation was being held unlawfully and ordered his immediate release.

Court finds insufficient evidence

The court found that authorities had provided only vague, general accounts of their actions, without specific evidence to support their position. Their reports did not establish with certainty that they were pursuing the case with due diligence, nor did they show that deportation was foreseeable.

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The court stressed that detention involving an asylum applicant must be kept to the shortest possible duration and remain justified by continuing lawful grounds. It concluded that the man’s overall period in custody was unlawful.

Immigration and asylum proceedings

According to the ruling, the man arrived in Cyprus in 2000. Over subsequent years, he made various applications seeking permission to live and work there, while the government began procedures aimed at returning him to Iran.

Authorities issued orders for his detention and deportation in September last year. He sought asylum in February this year, after which a further detention order was issued. His asylum application was refused in May.

Authorities’ account

Cypriot authorities told the court that they had reviewed his detention regularly throughout the period and had been trying to secure a travel document through the Iranian embassy so that he could return.

They also maintained that he lacked a valid document for travel and was failing to cooperate with repatriation efforts. The court, however, found that these assertions were insufficiently specific and unsupported by concrete evidence.