MELBOURNE, Australia — A man from Iran who killed his wife has failed in his final legal attempt to block Australia from sending him to Nauru, a remote Pacific island nation.
Australia’s High Court delivered a unanimous decision Wednesday, with all seven justices rejecting the man’s challenge to a deportation order issued last year. The order would send him to the independent island nation of approximately 12,000 residents on a 30-year visa. Court documents refer to him only as TCXM to protect refugee identities under Australian law.
Immigration Minister Tony Burke celebrated the court’s decision as validation of Australia’s immigration enforcement policies.
“I welcome the decision of the court. A canceled visa must have consequences in our migration system,” said Burke, who had contested the man’s appeal of the deportation order.
Last year, Australia struck a deal with Nauru worth 408 million Australian dollars ($296 million) to resettle unwanted non-citizens who cannot be sent back to their origin countries for up to three decades. The agreement also includes yearly payments of AU$70 million ($51 million) to Nauru.
So far, eight men have been relocated to Nauru through this arrangement, which has drawn criticism within Australia for its steep cost.
The Nauru agreement emerged as Australia’s response to a challenging political situation created by a 2023 High Court ruling. That earlier decision determined that stateless individuals or those who couldn’t return home could no longer be detained indefinitely in Australia with minimal prospects of finding refuge in a third nation.
Following that 2023 ruling, more than 350 individuals were freed in Australia on temporary visas, including many convicted criminals like TCXM. The original case was initiated by a convicted child molester known in court as NZYQ, who was a refugee from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim community.
TCXM, currently in his early sixties, arrived in Australia from Iran in 1990. He received a protection visa in 1995 but was sentenced to 22 years behind bars in 1999 for his wife’s murder.
Authorities revoked his visa and moved him from prison to immigration detention in 2015, where he spent eight years. Iran refuses to accept forced deportations of its citizens from other nations. Australia maintains a policy against returning refugees to countries where they face persecution risks.
TCXM was among the first three non-citizens selected for transfer to Nauru under the new agreement. A federal court judge initially dismissed his challenge, and Wednesday’s High Court decision confirmed that ruling, exhausting his legal remedies. TCXM remained in Australia during his legal fight, though his deportation timeline remains unclear.
His legal arguments included claims that Nauru’s medical facilities were insufficient to manage his serious asthma condition.
He also contended that Australia’s Nauru agreement violated the law and that his deportation constituted punishment, making it unconstitutional. Australia’s constitution requires that punishment be administered by courts rather than government agencies.
Australian governments have previously compensated Nauru and Papua New Guinea to operate detention facilities for asylum seekers who attempted to reach Australia by boat, housing them in substandard conditions.
Australia’s policy of denying settlement to boat arrivals has significantly reduced people smuggling operations that once used unsafe fishing vessels from Southeast Asian ports.
