THE Australian government said today that it released 80 people, including convicted criminals, from migration detention centres since the High Court ruled last week that their indefinite detention was unconstitutional.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said the government had taken the step after the court overturned a 2004 precedent set in the case of a Palestinian man, Ahmed Al-Kateb, that stateless people could be held indefinitely in detention.

The court ruled last Wednesday that a member of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority must be freed from indefinite detention.

Australia has been unable to find any country willing to resettle the man, identified only as NZYQ, because he had been convicted of raping a 10-year-old boy and authorities consider him a danger to the Australian community.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said that NZYQ is one of 80 people who had been detained indefinitely and had now been freed.

Mr Giles said: “It is important to note that the High Court hasn’t yet provided reasons for its decision, so the full ramifications of the decision won’t be able to be determined.

“We have been required, though, to release people almost immediately in order to abide by the decision.”

Mr Giles said that all 80 were released with appropriate visa conditions determined by factors including an individual’s criminal record.

He said: “Community safety has been our number one priority in anticipation of the decision and since it’s been handed down.”

Mr Giles told the Australian parliament that new laws could be introduced once the government examined the judges’ reasons for their decision.

Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition, said it was unclear on what basis detainees were being released.

Not all the detainees were stateless. Iran will accept its citizens only if they return voluntarily from Australia, and Australia has stopped deporting Afghans since the Taliban took control, Mr Rintoul said.