Government loses appeal to take phones from asylum seekers

The federal government has lost its appeal to overturn an injunction allowing immigration detainees to keep their mobile phones.

The federal government has lost its appeal against a court ruling that allows immigration detainees to keep their mobile phones.

The Federal Court threw out the appeal in Sydney on Thursday, upholding its injunction and preventing Immigration from seizing detainees’ phones.

After the decision, the National Justice Project’s principal solicitor George Newhouse said if the government was concerned about access to phones it should separate convicted criminals from other detainess.

“The blanket removal of phones is part of the process of criminalising asylum seekers and this government ongoing policy of punishment and cruelty towards them,” Mr Newhouse said.

“Peter Dutton claims that the use of mobile phones is linked to criminal behaviour but asylum seekers are not criminals. Mobile phones are a life line to the outside world that enables them to maintain their sanity and communicate with their families, thr loved ones, the community and their legal representatives.”

Source: Government loses appeal to take phones from asylum seekers | SBS News