Illegal Detention Practice According to residents’ testimonies and reports by Amnesty International, GCR and civil society organizations operating on Samos, an illegal detention regime has been in operation on the island for several months.14 Beginning on 17th November, Samos CCAC’s residents that do not have an asylum applicant smart card (necessary to access the centers security systems) have been generally forbidden to leaving the site. This has been done without an administrative decision and without providing information regarding the legal basis on which the exit ban is implemented. Security guards at the gates of the CCAC said that those who do not have an asylum applicant card cannot exit the facility. People without asylum applicant cards are newly arrived persons waiting for a card to be issued, persons with second-instance negative decisions that have not registered or cannot register a subsequent asylum application, persons who have registered a subsequent application, and those with a first-instance negative decision waiting for an appeal. In December, the number of the people banned from exiting the camp was around 100, out of the 450 residents.15 Οn 17 December 2021, the Administrative Court of Syros, ruling in the case of an Afghan resident of the facility, confirmed that the prohibition of exit from the Samos CCAC imposed by the Greek state was unlawful.16 The Court stated that the Head of the CCAC illegally took the measure in question, the exit ban, against the applicant and ordered for it to be lifted. In the aforementioned case, there was no chance to monitor the administration’s reaction to the court decision as the Afghan resident received an asylum applicant card and now can exit the center due to an admissibility decision on his subsequent application issued by the asylum service, not due to the CCAC administration’s compliance with the court decision. Despite the court’s decision on the arbitrary nature of this practice, recent residents’ testimonies and civil society organizations report that the Administration of the camp continue to impose this illegal detention measure on dozens of residents, although the administration officially denies the practice.17 Additionally, civil society organizations observe that since the illegal detention practice became known and some residents have proceeded with legal actions, the administration has adopted “revenge tactics”. These have included sudden police incursion inside residents’ containers in early morning hours, transfers to the police station and oral eviction notices to residents with a second instance rejection, pending for the registration of their subsequent application.18 Ιt must be made clear that the use of excessive technological means of control, such as the use of the two-factor access control system, are an intentional and optional choice that the administration is making 19 and this choice cannot result in the unlawful deprivation of asylum seekers’ freedom and basic rights. Inside the camp, the food and clothing distribution areas and restaurants (not yet operational) are equipped with turnstile access control system which require the use of the electronic asylum applicant card. People without an asylum applicant card who are currently arbitrarily denied their freedom, will in the future also be deprived of access to food and basic items simply due to not having the applicant card. 4 “I just want to go outside. They don’t let me. They are keeping me here as a prisoner. If I had to choose, I would say that I would prefer the previous camp – at least, there, I was free. I was not living in a cage. At least, I had my freedom to go somewhere.” -T. Young Afghan man, trapped on Samos since 2019