A Palestinian woman has been released from immigration detention a week after she was detained by authorities when a federal assistant minister “personally” cancelled her visa.
Last Thursday, Maha Almassri, 61, was awoken by Australian Border Force officers at her son’s home in western Sydney and taken to Villawood detention centre. She was told her bridging visa had been cancelled after she failed a character test.
Almassri fled Gaza in February 2024 and entered Australia on a visitor visa shortly afterwards. She was granted a bridging visa in June 2024 after she applied for a protection visa.
Mohammed Almassri, Maha’s cousin, confirmed the grandmother was released from Villawood on Thursday afternoon. He said Maha had requested privacy and was unable to give further details.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said in a statement that the government “will not be commenting on this cancellation”.
“Any information in the public domain is being supplied by the individual or her family and is not necessarily consistent with the information held by our intelligence and security agencies,” the spokesperson said.
In a document previously seen by Guardian Australia, Maha Almassri was informed her visa had been cancelled “personally” by the assistant minister for citizenship and cultural affairs, Julian Hill.
The document said the assistant minister “reasonably suspects that the person does not pass the character test” and was “satisfied that the cancellation was in the national interest”.
On Saturday, Mohammed Almassri told Guardian Australia the family had been given no further information by the government explaining why she was detained or the reasons why she had failed the character test.
According to the Migration Act, a person does not pass the character test if they have been assessed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) to be a direct or indirect risk to security.
Her cousin said security checks were made on her by both Australian and Israeli authorities before she was granted a visa and cleared to leave Gaza, and that her age made her an unlikely threat to Australian national security.
“She’s an old lady, what can she do?” Mohammed Almassri said last week. “What’s the reason? They have to let us know why this has happened. There is no country, no house, nothing [to go back to in Gaza].”
Maha Almassri has more than 100 Australian relatives living across the country, Mohammed said last Friday. His Australian children were evacuated from Rafah in March last year.
In a social media post on Thursday night, a member of the community wrote that Maha had been released and thanked Burke for his “efforts in achieving justice” for the 61-year-old.
“We are pleased to inform you of the release of our sister … after her week-long detention at Villawood detention centre,” they wrote.
“We would also like to thank everyone who contributed sufficient information that contributed to her release.”
