A Palestinian lady who arrived in Australia from Gaza has been detained by immigration authorities after a pre-dawn raid in Sydney.
Maha Almassri, 61, was woken by about 15 Australian Border Power officers at her son’s residence in western Sydney at about 5.30am on Thursday, her cousin Mohammed Almassri advised Guardian Australia.
Mohammed Almassri, who was not on the scene and was knowledgeable concerning the raid by his family, stated extra officers have been positioned exterior the home.
Maha Almassri left Gaza by way of Rafah in February 2024 and entered Australia on a vacationer visa a short while later, Mohammed stated. She has been dwelling together with her son since.
On Thursday, she was advised she had failed a visa character verify and was taken to Bankstown police station after which transferred to Villawood detention centre, Mohammed stated.
In a doc seen by Guardian Australia, Almassri was advised her visa had been cancelled “personally” by the assistant minister for citizenship and cultural affairs and that the minister “reasonably suspects that the person does not pass the character test” and was “satisfied that the cancellation was in the national interest”.
In response to the Migration Act, an individual doesn’t go the character take a look at if they’ve been assessed by the Australian Safety Intelligence Organisation (Asio) to be a direct or oblique threat to safety.
A separate doc seen by the Guardian steered Almassri was granted a bridging visa in June final 12 months after making use of for a safety visa.
The grandmother has greater than 100 Australian family dwelling throughout the nation, Mohammed stated. His Australian kids have been evacuated from Rafah in March final 12 months.
He stated safety checks have been made on her by each Australian and Israeli authorities earlier than she was granted a visa and cleared to depart Gaza, and that her age made her an unlikely menace to Australian nationwide safety.
“She’s an old lady, what can she do?” he stated. “What’s the reason? They have to let us know why this has happened. There is no country, no house, nothing [to go back to in Gaza].”
He stated his cousin was unwell and frightened.
“She was sleeping [when the raid happened]. She couldn’t walk, she was so scared.”
He stated he tried to speak over the cellphone to Maha in Villawood on Thursday afternoon however she was unable to talk by way of tears.
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Tony Burke, the minister for residence affairs, stated the federal government “will not be commenting on this cancellation”.
“Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual and is not necessarily consistent with the information supplied by our intelligence and security agencies,” he stated.
“Our security checks never stop and this cancellation is proof the system is working.”
A spokesperson from the Division for House Affairs stated it didn’t touch upon particular person circumstances as a result of privateness, however that the federal government would “continue to act decisively to protect the community from the risk of harm posed by individuals … including visa cancellation or refusal where appropriate”.
The Refugee Recommendation and Casework Service, which is representing Maha, stated it had “nothing to comment on at this time”.
Alison Battisson, a human rights lawyer, stated it was “very common” for folks to be woken up early within the morning with no warning and be taken to a police station, then into detention.
She stated people might solely be detained if there have been affordable prospects of their removing from Australia within the fairly foreseeable future. Battisson questioned the place a Palestinian from Gaza would return to if compelled to depart Australia.
“It’s a Palestinian grandma. I’d be very interested to understand the decision-making process behind it,” she stated.
