The Supreme Court has ordered the release of an Iranian national who was held in custody for 12 months pending deportation, finding that the length of time he had spent in detention was unlawful.

In its decision, the court explained that the man had first arrived in Cyprus in 2000, and that in the years which followed, he submitted “various applications” for residence permits and work permits, while the government initiated procedures to deport him back to his country of origin.

Detention and deportation orders were issued in September last year, but in February this year the man applied for asylum, with a new detention order then being issued.

His application was rejected in May, with the Cypriot authorities stressing that throughout this time, “the detention was regularly reviewed” and “efforts were being made to obtain a travel document from the Iranian embassy to enable his return”.

On this front, the authorities had told the court that the man “did not have a valid travel document and was not cooperating with the authorities for his repatriation”.

However, the court stated that the Cypriot authorities’ position was “general” and “not accompanied by any specific evidence”, before adding that they were formulated “in complete generality and vagueness”.

It stressed that the detention of an individual who has applied for asylum “must last as short as possible” and “must continue only as long as the legitimate grounds for it still exist”.

“Given that the competent authorities’ reports regarding their actions are unclear and indefinite, without it being demonstrated with certainty that they are acting with due diligence and without any prospect of the applicant’s deportation being foreseeable, it is considered that the total time of his detention is unlawful,” it said.

As such, it ordered that the man be immediately released.