The household of a Palestinian grandmother detained in Sydney by immigration authorities after a pre-dawn raid have pleaded with the house affairs minister, Tony Burke, for solutions about her visa cancellation and “actual illustration” to safe her freedom.
Maha Almassri, 61, was on Thursday morning awoken by border power officers at her son’s residence in western Sydney. She had fled Gaza in February 2024 and entered Australia on a customer visa shortly afterwards. She was granted a bridging visa in June 2024 after making use of for a safety visa.
Almassri was moved to Villawood detention centre on Thursday, after being instructed that her bridging visa had been cancelled after she failed a personality check.
Based on the Migration Act, an individual doesn’t cross the character check if they’ve been assessed by the Australian Safety Intelligence Organisation (Asio) to be a direct or oblique danger to safety.
On Saturday, Mohammed Almassri, Maha’s cousin, instructed Guardian Australia the household had been given no additional data by the federal government explaining why she was detained and the character of the risk she posed to nationwide safety.
Addressing Burke – the native member for Watson, the place Almassri’s son lives – straight, Mohammed pleaded for his cousin’s freedom.
“We’d like our auntie again, we want her freedom. She left Gaza [because of] the battle and now you place her in detention – that’s not proper,” he mentioned. “Why did she fail the safety test? Reply our query, please, Tony Burke.”
He mentioned the household and Muslim group felt let down by its native member.
“When he received, we thought he would signify our group,” Almassri mentioned, including the household was involved about his cousin’s bodily and psychological well being as she stays in Villawood.
“All of us fear about her as a result of she feels alone, she feels down, she doesn’t know what to do. The scenario is horrible for her. She’s crying on a regular basis. I really feel so sorry about her.”
In an announcement launched on Friday, the household, led by Maha’s brother-in-law, Soliman Almassri, mentioned its members had voted for Burke after “recommendation from group elders that minister Tony Burke [was] the very best candidate to signify our group within the present local weather”.
“We wish to see actual illustration of our household and an efficient decision to this dilemma,” they mentioned.
They mentioned Almassri “stays perplexed in regards to the daybreak raid” they usually “proceed to consolation and reassure her that she is in a peaceable nation the place a good justice system prevails”.
Some media protection of Maha’s detention had spawned some “vile anti-Muslim” sentiment, they mentioned, urging the matter to be handled “in accordance with human rights”.
They mentioned two different Palestinians from Gaza had additionally been detained by immigration authorities after raids, one in all whom was understood to have been detained on Monday. Mohammed mentioned neither was associated to his household.
Burke’s workplace didn’t add to remarks made on Thursday, when the minister mentioned he wouldn’t be commenting on the visa cancellation and that the knowledge supplied by the household was “not essentially per the knowledge provided by our intelligence and safety companies”.
On Friday, the shadow residence affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, questioned the thoroughness of the safety checks that had resulted in Almassri’s customer visa being granted.
“How does the federal government intend to take away this particular person from Australia given the minister beforehand mentioned nobody could be despatched again to Gaza for the time being?” he requested, as reported by Information Corp.
The Almassri household’s pleas come after a pro-Palestinian demonstration in western Sydney on Friday afternoon, which was attended by about 150 supporters.
The protest, which one attender mentioned was policed by about 50 law enforcement officials, came about exterior SEC Plating in Belmore, the situation of a scuffle that on 27 June left former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas in hospital with a critical eye harm.
