Police on Thursday summoned a woman for questioning after she allegedly attempted to enter the Limassol district court carrying a knife.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the police could not confirm that the woman had been arrested as suggested in other media reports but said that she had been taken to the police headquarters in Limassol to be summoned.

Investigations into the case are ongoing.

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.

The court of appeal ordered a three-year suspension of prison sentences imposed on a man for burglaries and other offences, deeming that the court of first instance had not taken into account his successful completion of a drug rehabilitation programme.

In a decision on October 15, made public on Tuesday, the court of appeal accepted the appellant’s request for suspended sentences.

The man had admitted six of the ten charges, including burglaries, theft, possession of burglary tools, illegal possession of property and malicious damage.

The court had imposed concurrent sentences, the longest being three years, and had dismissed the request for the suspension of sentences.

In its decision, the court of appeal said the court of first instance had correctly taken into account the seriousness of the offences, the man’s criminal record and his immediate admission of guilt, as well as the fact that most of the items stolen had been returned to the owners.

It found, however, that the successful completion of the rehabilitation programme at Ayia Skepi centre should have been taken into account.

The man had remained at Ayia Skepi for a year, from June 2025 till June 2026.

The court of appeal said suspending the sentences would be beneficial for the man and society.

It decided that the sentences would remain intact but the remainder would be suspended for three years from the date of the ruling by the court of first instance.