Newsroom
The Supreme Court has ruled that the continued detention of a Sudanese asylum seeker was unlawful and ordered his immediate release through the issuance of a writ of Habeas Corpus.
The man entered Cyprus illegally and applied for international protection on 5 June 2025. His asylum application has yet to be examined.
He was arrested on 13 October 2025 after the authorities classified him as a person considered dangerous to the Republic's public safety. Detention and deportation orders were issued at that time.
The court accepted that confidential police material contained specific information linking the applicant's conduct and activities to national security issues. It also found that the original reasons for detaining him had not disappeared.
Despite those findings, the judges concluded that his prolonged detention could no longer be justified because there was no realistic prospect of either deciding his asylum application within a reasonable time or removing him from Cyprus.
Throughout his detention, the Department of Migration reviewed his case on three occasions. Before each review, it sought updates from the Aliens and Immigration Service on the progress of investigations.
Police repeatedly replied that the man did not have a passport, was refusing to cooperate with arrangements for his departure and that no flights were available. They also maintained that his deportation was an urgent priority.
Migration officials considered whether alternatives to detention could be imposed but decided each time that detention remained necessary to protect national security and public order. In January 2026, the department also asked the Asylum Service to speed up examination of the man's protection claim because he had already spent several months in custody.
Correspondence submitted to the court also referred to practical difficulties faced by the authorities in returning foreign nationals whose asylum claims or legal proceedings remain unresolved. Officials described delays linked to pending asylum decisions, court challenges and the absence of travel documents in many cases, making removals increasingly difficult.
The Supreme Court said detention must last only for as long as the legal grounds supporting it continue to justify depriving a person of their liberty. It referred to previous case law confirming that an asylum seeker cannot be held beyond a reasonable period simply because the legality of the original detention order has not been challenged.
The judges found there had been no meaningful progress since the detention order was issued. They said there was no indication of when the asylum application, submitted more than a year earlier, would be examined and no realistic prospect of deportation while the claim remained pending. Even if the application were eventually rejected, the court found there was still no reasonable expectation that removal could take place in the near future.
Balancing the state's responsibility to protect national security with the applicant's right to liberty, the Supreme Court ruled that continued detention was unlawful under the circumstances and ordered the authorities to release him immediately.
The Republic was also ordered to pay the applicant's legal costs, together with VAT where applicable.
