A Somali citizen who has been held in an Israeli jail for more than four years - when he was not being shuttled between Cyprus and Israel - was released this week after a Justice Ministry court for foreign detainees dismissed the state's argument that he posed a security risk.

In its ruling, issued last week, the court criticized the state for opposing Faisal Maddal's release.

Maddal ran away from Somalia after his two brothers were killed in an attack on his tribe, and he entered Israel in 1999. In 2002, a year after his residency permit expired, he was arrested during a fight at a cafe. Israel filed a deportation order against Maddal, but he was kept in custody because Israel does not have relations with Somalia. His attempt to obtain refugee status from the United Nations failed, but in 2005, he received an entry permit for Cyprus, where he hoped to seek refuge.

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However, before the Cypriot courts could hear Maddal's case, Cyprus sent him back to Israel. Israel then returned him to Cyprus, and Cyprus sent him to Israel again - all within three days. In June 2005, Maddal attempted suicide.

The court for foreign detainees, after an in-depth examination of the case, criticized the Shin Bet security service for classifying Maddal as a security risk.

The state had repeatedly asked that Maddal's remand be extended on the basis of this classification, which was based in part on his statement that he wants to be a shahid, or martyr. Those comments were described in the arrest report, which stated that during the fight for which he was arrested in 2002, he could be heard screaming that he wants to be a shahid and kill Jews.

But Judge Dan Librati rejected that reasoning, saying: "With all due respect, the risk assessment, in light of the contents of the arrest report, does not stand up to the minimal test of common sense and logic." He also criticized the fact that the arrest report did not mention the name of the witness to Maddal's alleged comments, saying: "It is inconceivable that a person, even if he is an illegal resident, should all at once turn into an enemy of the Jewish people on the basis of a sloppy police report."

Another reason for Maddal's classification as a security risk is that he stayed at the same hostel as Mahmad Ali Mahmad, a Swedish man of Somali descent who is suspected of contact with Osama bin Laden's followers and was deported in 2002. The third and final factor was that Maddal worked as a janitor in a building housing what used to be Benjamin Netanyahu's ministerial bureau.

The court ruled that the evidence provided by the state was insufficient to declare Maddal a security risk. According to the ruling, the state failed to prove that Maddal had a significant connection with Mahmad, nor did it take any action against Maddal after Mahmad was deported.

Maddal, who has denied the allegations underpinning his "security risk" classification, was sent to Kibbutz Ma'agan on Sunday. He is slated to live there for a year while looking for a country to which he can immigrate.

But though he has been freed from prison, he will not be allowed to leave the kibbutz or to give media interviews without permission from the immigration police and the Interior Ministry.

"Whoever didn't see the day of his release has never seen joy," said Maddal's lawyer, Shamai Leibowitz. "After so many disappointments and so much time, it's hard for him to digest freedom."

"It's a just decision, legally and ethically," Leibowitz added. "Especially for the State of Israel, which is made up of immigrants and ought to be sensitive to these issues. The security risk issue has turned into a mantra that it is too easy for courts not to deal with. I'm glad that here, there was a judge who examined the evidence and reached unequivocal conclusions."

Leibowitz said that he will soon submit an asylum request to the U.S. State Department on Maddal's behalf. This decision stems in part from an American promise to absorb 20,000 African refugees in the coming year. Should this avenue fail, Maddal will attempt to immigrate to a European country.