ASIO and AFP failed Egyptian asylum seeker Sayed Abdellatif

Despite the damning revelations of the Inspector-General’s report into ASIO and the AFP’s handling of the detention of Egyptian asylum seeker, Sayed Abdellatif, the Minister for Immigration has still not allowed him to make an application for a protection visa.

Sayed, his wife and six children have been held in immigration detention for almost two years. For the last eleven months, Sayed has been separated from his family inside the Villawood detention centre.

“There is no excuse for the delay, ” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “The Immigration Department found that Sayed and his family had a prima facie case for protection on 9 July 2012.

“In September 2012, a submission was made by the Immigration Department to the Minister to allow Sayed to apply for protection. But the report says ‘there is no record of the Minister reading the submission’.

“Incredibly, Sayed has been held in detention for 18 months because the submission ‘was misplaced within the Minister’s office.’ Minister Morrison now has another submission, but there has still been no decision.”

“This is just a form of extra-judicial punishment,” said Ian Rintoul, “Neither ASIO nor the AFP showed any interest to follow up court documents and other evidence that showed the allegations made against him by the Egyptian government were fabricated. The AFP not only took months to make translation of documents but also didn’t bother to hand those translations to Immigration or ASIO.”

Today, Wednesday 19 March, when Sayed asked his Villawood case manager why he was still separated from his family and why the Minister had still not allowed him to make a protection claim, his case manager told him that ‘nothing had changed’.

“The report makes it quite clear that Sayed has been the subject of politically driven decisions. The family was moved from Inverbrackie to Villawood, only when Sayed’s case manager was alerted that there was about to be media coverage of his case.

“Sayed and his family have been the victims of bumbling unconcern at the hands of Immigration, ASIO and the AFP. The Minister can now rectify some of the injustice inflicted on the family, by re-uniting them, allowing them to apply for protection visas and releasing them from detention.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

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