Israel to release 138 detained asylum seekers
Move comes after High Court ruled detention of African migrants since December 2013 illegal
Israel will release 138 African asylum seekers after nearly two years in detention, following a High Court ruling that they were being illegally incarcerated.
The ruling was in response to a petition on behalf of the Sudanese and Eritrean migrants, filed by the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants NGO, arguing that the state was not allowed to intern asylum seekers more than a year.
In response to the court’s decision, the Population and Immigration Authority announced Thursday that the asylum seekers in question will be be issued a temporary residence permit and will be released by next early next week, Israel Radio reported.
The detained asylum seekers were initially incarcerated in December 2013 in accordance with the Prevention of Infiltration Law, which the High Court of Justice ruled to be illegal in a landmark September ruling
Although the court ruled that the Holot detention facility where they were held was to close within three months, the state has not released any asylum seekers and has continued to issue summons for detention.
The petition demanded the state release detained asylum seekers in accordance with the court’s September 22 ruling, and also noted that the 138 asylum seekers in question have been detained for two years, longer then the one year detention period outlined in the Prevention of Infiltration Law.
Since 2006 some 50,000 Eritreans and Sudanese have entered Israel illegally via the Sinai desert, prompting authorities to construct a fence along the border and build the large Holot detention facility in the Negev desert to house them.
For the past eight years, Israel has struggled to establish and implement a clear legal framework to deal with the large influx of migrants, which has resulted in confusing and often times conflicting ad hoc immigration policies.
Court representatives announced that the state must implement the Supreme Court ruling and close the Holot detention facility and must process all of the requests for asylum, Israel Radio reported.
