Madness

Paedophile rapist to stay in Australia.

‘Refugee’ who raped 10-year-old boy can stay in Australia. Rohingyan man convicted of child sex in 2015.

He was sent to immigration detention after jail time — but the court found in favour of the Rohingya paedophile - known only in proceedings as NZYQ - who has been in detention since serving a prison sentence for child sexual abuse because the Rohingya are not citizens of Myanmar - who consider them Bengalis and so be cannot be deported there.

The landmark ruling delivered on Wednesday would also force the release of 92 other non-citizens being held in detention who cannot be deported to their home countries.

NZYQ arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 and had his bridging visa cancelled in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old child. He was transferred to an immigration detention centre in May 2018 after serving a minimum sentence of three years and four months and being denied a 'safe haven enterprise' visa.

Until the High Court ruling, NZYQ faced the prospect of remaining in immigration detention for the rest of his life. He will now be released into the community and the Commonwealth will pay his legal costs.

The case is the first to be heard since Stephen Gageler, a former solicitor-general who has sat on the High Court bench since 2012, was sworn in as Chief Justice on Monday. Lawyers for NZYQ, who is aged in his late 20s, argued it was unconstitutional to hold a person in detention when there was no chance of them being deported.

His case was supported by the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Human Rights Commission. 'Indefinite detention ends today,' she said. 'This has life-changing consequences for people who have been detained for years without knowing when, or even if, they will ever be released. 'The government must respect the constitutional limits of detention and act immediately to free people who have been indefinitely detained.' Jane McAdam, director of the University of NSW's Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, called Wednesday's decision an 'important and long-awaited victory for human rights'. 'Indefinite detention has always been arbitrary and unlawful under international law,' Professor McAdam said.

The Department [of Home Affairs] has never successfully removed a person who has been convicted of an offence involving sexual offending against a child to a country other than a country which recognises the person as a citizen.' High Court Chief Justice Stephen Gageler had shown concern about the lack of time frames around indefinite detention.