A fourth detainee, part of a group released following a High Court ruling overturning 20 years of case law, has been arrested within days of leaving indefinite detention.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrested and charged the man, 45, earlier today after locating him at a Melbourne hotel.
The offending allegedly occurred on Dec. 1, when the man breached the conditions of his Commonwealth visa by failing to observe his residential curfew.
It is also alleged he went to Melbourne Airport, where he stole luggage from a traveller who was asleep in the terminal.
The theft charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, while failing to comply with curfew carries a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment and a $93,900 fine.
The man is the fourth former immigration detainee to be charged since the High Court ruling overturned indefinite detention on Nov. 8.
On Dec. 4, Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari appeared in a South Australian court after allegedly indecently assaulting a woman two days earlier, less than a month after his release.
On the afternoon of Dec. 2, 45-year-old Mohammed Ali Nadari was accused of drug possession when police allegedly found him in western Sydney in possession of cannabis.
And Emran Dad, 33, was arrested in Dandenong on Dec. 5 morning after he breached his obligations as a registered sex offender.
Labor and the Coalition have moved to counteract the High Court’s ruling through legislation legalising indefinite detention, with Labor’s preventive detention regime passing the Senate with Coalition support. It will go to the House of Representatives on Dec. 7.
Liberal leader in the Senate Simon Birmingham accused the Labor government of a “real crime”—that of failing to legalise preventive detention before the court decision.
To date, the government has not explained why that had not happened.
