Court orders release of asylum seeker who had been held for six months

The supreme court has ordered the release of an asylum seeker who had been held in custody for six months, stating that the Cypriot authorities had not undertaken due diligence to ensure his deportation during that time.

The man, a Cameroonian national, had first applied for asylum in 2019, and this application was rejected in 2024.

He was then arrested on July 3 last year on suspicion of residing in Cyprus without the requisite residence documents, with a deportation order having been issued on the same day.

Then, on July 20, he filed a new application for asylum, which the authorities agreed to examine, before a new detention order was put out in his name on August 21. His second application was then rejected in September, and he filed an appeal to the international protection administrative court thereafter.

That court procedure remains pending.

The supreme court found that the first evaluation of the man’s detention was carried out two months after he was arrested, and that this period of time was adequately “short and compatible with the spirit of the legislation”.

However, it stated, the lawfulness of detention in these cases is also linked to whether the authorities act with due diligence to achieve their ostensible objective – in this case, deporting the man.

It stated that as such, “administrative procedures must be carried out with due diligence and without undue delay”, but that in this case, “it has not been demonstrated that substantial steps have been taken in this direction”.

“It has not been apparent that the competent authorities are taking any action in the meantime with the aim of deporting him as soon as it becomes permissible,” it said, before adding that the Cypriot authorities’ justification for the man’s continued detention is “entirely general, vague, and unsubstantiated”.

To this end, it pointed out that given the circumstances, there was a risk that the man could remain in detention indefinitely.

“Given the lack of determination of a timeframe for the progress and completion of the appeal and the inaction of the authorities regarding taking steps to enable the deportation of the applicant, if the requested warrant was not issued, the applicant will continue to be detained for a further, unspecified period of time,” it stated.

As such, he has now been released from custody, with his appeal against his deportation pending.