European Court of Human Rights rules against Cyprus in asylum seeker detention case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously ruled on October 1, 2026, that Cyprus violated the right to liberty of a Moroccan asylum seeker, identified as K.A., by holding him in detention for 13½ months. The applicant, born in 1966, was detained at the Menoyia detention centre from January 10, 2019, to February 24, 2020, on national security grounds after being flagged as a "category B" suspect by a foreign intelligence service.

The court determined that the detention was not sufficiently linked to preventing unauthorized entry and persisted longer than reasonably necessary. It noted a lack of progress in his asylum proceedings and ambiguity among domestic authorities regarding the purpose of the detention. While the court awarded the applicant €5,000 for non-pecuniary damages, it rejected his claim that the withholding of confidential evidence had denied him a fair opportunity to challenge his detention. The court did not find that the authorities acted in bad faith or that the conditions of detention were inappropriate.

The case was filed by the applicant on February 13, 2025, to challenge the legality and duration of his confinement. This judgment is final, concluding the legal proceedings regarding this specific detention period.