Legal challenge to Australia’s indefinite immigration detention could determine freedom of hundreds

Advocates believe Egyptian man’s case paves way to possibly overturn 2004 decision upholding indefinite detention by Migration Act

The legal basis of Australia’s system of indefinite immigration detention is set to be challenged in a case that could determine the freedom of hundreds of asylum seekers and people whose visas were cancelled.

In a judgment earlier in December, federal court Justice Debra Mortimer said Australia’s immigration system has achieved the “disgraceful objective” of desensitising officers to indefinite detention, making preliminary findings in favour of a man she said had “no real likelihood” of being removed from Australia in the near future.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads