The Australian High Court found on Tuesday that the government’s ongoing practice of detaining migrants indefinitely in detention facilities in cases where extradition is not possible is unlawful. The case overrules 2004 precedent that allowed the government to indefinitely detain migrants deemed to be “stateless.”

Tuesday’s case looked at the issues facing a Rohingya man known as “NZYQ” who is being held on sexual abuse charges and cannot be extradited from Australia, as no country will take him. With the court’s ruling, the government will have to release NZYQ from detention. 

In the 2004 Al-Kateb v. Godwin case, the court found that the only way indefinite detention could be justified under Australian law is if there was a genuine attempt made to eventually extradite the person. However, the case raised the issue of how the government would get the detained migrant released from the country when they have nowhere to go because they are stateless people.

The main factor that differentiated NZYQ from Ahmed Al-Kateb in the court’s opinion was that Al-Kateb had truly nowhere to go because no state would accept him and no state offered to take him in. NZYQ had offers from several nations that are traditional Australian allies, including a standing offer from the US to take custody of NZYQ.  Because the government was neglectful towards the possibility of having NZYQ removed from the country, he was not in the same situation as Al-Kateb. Therefore NZYQ could not be held under the same conditions—meaning indefinite detention.

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomed the court’s Tuesday decision. President of the commission Professor Rosalind Croucher said, “This is a truly historic decision in terms of human rights and social justice in this country, and I thank all the people and organisations who have contributed in their own ways to bringing this about.”

Currently, there are over 100 people in Australia who have been held under this law for more than five years. As a result, they are stuck in limbo in Australia’s extradition procedures because no other country will accept them.  Of the people stuck in limbo, nearly all of them are in a situation that is similar to NZYQ and could be subject to release shortly.