26
SAADI v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
(and see also Gebremedhin [Gaberamadine] v. France, no. 25389/05, § 74,
ECHR 2007-...).
73. With regard to the foregoing, the Court considers that the principle
that detention should not be arbitrary must apply to detention under the first
limb of Article 5 § 1(f) in the same manner as it applies to detention under
the second limb. Since States enjoy the right to control equally an alien's
entry into and residence in their country (see the cases cited in paragraph 63
above), it would be artificial to apply a different proportionality test to cases
of detention at the point of entry than that which applies to deportation,
extradition or expulsion of a person already in the country.
74. To avoid being branded as arbitrary, therefore, such detention must
be carried out in good faith; it must be closely connected to the purpose of
preventing unauthorised entry of the person to the country; the place and
conditions of detention should be appropriate, bearing in mind that “the
measure is applicable not to those who have committed criminal offences
but to aliens who, often fearing for their lives, have fled from their own
country” (see Amuur, § 43); and the length of the detention should not
exceed that reasonably required for the purpose pursued.
c) Was the applicant's detention arbitrary?
75. Before examining whether the applicant's detention at Oakington
was arbitrary in the sense outlined above, the Court observes that the
national courts at three levels found that it had a basis in national law, and
the applicant does not contend that this conclusion was incorrect.
76. In examining whether the applicant's detention was compatible with
the criteria set out in paragraph 74 above, the Court further recalls the
following findings of the Court of Appeal and House of Lords (see
paragraphs 17-18 above), which it accepts. The national courts found that
the purpose of the Oakington detention regime was to ensure the speedy
resolution of some 13,000 of the approximately 84,000 asylum applications
made in the United Kingdom per year at that time. In order to achieve this
objective it was necessary to schedule up to 150 interviews a day and even
small delays might disrupt the entire programme. The applicant was
selected for detention on the basis that his case was suited for fast track
processing.
77. In these circumstances, the Court finds that the national authorities
acted in good faith in detaining the applicant. Indeed the policy behind the
creation of the Oakington regime was generally to benefit asylum seekers;
as Lord Slynn put it, ���getting a speedy decision is in the interests not only of
the applicants but of those increasingly in the queue” (see paragraph 18
above). Moreover, since the purpose of the deprivation of liberty was to
enable the authorities quickly and efficiently to determine the applicant's
claim to asylum, his detention was closely connected to the purpose of
preventing unauthorised entry.