Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.Credit:GDI
The move has prompted concern by Australia's top human rights official,Gillian Triggs,and other legal experts that the Abbott Government's new policy could be circumventing due process and the right to a fair trial.
The Sunday Age understands it may be the first time the government has used sweeping new immigration powers to detain a non-citizen on Christmas Island while they are awaiting trial.
Immigration and law enforcement authorities have refused to explain why the man was taken to the island in the Indian Ocean shortly before he was due to appear at multiple court hearings in Melbourne.
The former Shiite Iraqi refugee,who has a lengthy criminal record in Australia and extensive connections in Melbourne's underworld,was on bail and could face a committal hearing over his alleged involvement in a $6 million heroin and ecstasy importation ring.
The 31-year-old wastaken into custody after Federal Police called in Australian Border Force officials. The Melbourne-based Magistrate hearing his case rejected a bid by the Australian Federal Police to have his bail revoked.
The man's defence solicitor had successfully argued he posed no risk of offending and should be released from remand so he could care for his wife and young child.
His family was reportedly distraught after he failed to return because the man had been subject to underworld threats. A close relative of the man was gunned down in an execution-style murder earlier this year.