An Egyptian refugee Sayed Abdellatif got released after almost 12 years in Australia’s immigration detention.
The Guardian reports that he was granted temporary protection visa and released on Tuesday. He was then driven by authorities to his family’s home in Sydney.
He arrived Australia by boat in May 2012. He arrived with his wife and children to seek asylum. While Australia acknowledged he had good grounds to fear for his safety from being persecuted and could not be forced to return to Egypt, he was denied a visa on the basis of tainted security assessments. He was then held in immigration detention.
He had been convicted in absentia in a mass trial that lacked merit in Cairo for offences he claimed he never committed. The evidence used against him was obtained under torture. He also said he had been a victim of torture.
Meanwhile, his wife and six children were accepted into the Australian community where they have lived for years.
Abdellatif said, “My family and I are so happy and grateful. Our family is finally back together after so many years of being separated unnecessarily. We’ve waited for this for a very very long time.”
Zali Burrows, his lawyer said, “It has taken too long and too many unnecessary battles have been fought. It certainly restores faith in human nature when you see the right decision is finally being made.”
In spite of the fact that an assessment by the inspector general of intelligence found Abdellatif posed no threat to national security since as far as 2014 and officials recommending to successive governments that he be granted a visa to live in the community, he had been kept in prison till reprieve came his way
