1. In considering exclusion under Article 1F(b), the test is whether there are ‘serious reasons to consider that the appellant is guilty of conduct that amounts to a serious non-political offence’. ‘Serious’ in this context has an autonomous international meaning and is not to be defined purely by national law or the length of the sentence. Guidance on the meaning of ‘serious’ in relation to Article 1F(c) may be found in the decision of the Supreme Court in Al-Sirri and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] UKSC 54 at paragraph [75]. Arts 1F(a) and (c) serve to illustrate the level of seriousness required to engage Article 1F(b); the genus of seriousness is at a common level throughout.
2. A claimant’s personal participation in acts leading to exclusion under Article 1F(b) must be established to the ordinary civil standard of proof, that the material facts are more probable than not. The appellant’s guilt need not be proved to the criminal standard. Personal participation in a conspiracy to promote terrorist violence can be a ‘serious crime’ for the purpose of Article 1F(b). Where the personal acts of participation by a claimant take the form of assistance to others who are planning violent crimes, the nature of the acts thereby supported can be taken into account. The relevant crime may be an agreement to commit the criminal acts (in English law a conspiracy), rather than a choate crime.
3. In the absence of some strikingly unfair procedural defect, United Kingdom courts and tribunals should accord a significant degree of respect to the decision of senior sister Courts in European Union legal systems; there is a particular degree of mutual confidence and trust between legal systems that form part of the same legal order within the European Union. However, the ultimate question of whether the conduct of which the United Kingdom court or Tribunal is satisfied is sufficiently serious to justify exclusion is a matter for the national court or tribunal.
4. The examination of seriousness should be directed at the criminal acts when they were committed, although events in the supervening passage of time may be relevant to whether exclusion is justified: a formal pardon, or subsequent acquittal, or other event illuminating the nature of the activity may be relevant to this assessment. Despite suggestions to the contrary by respected commentators, it does not appear to be the case that service of the sentence, or indeed a final acquittal, brings the application of the exclusion clause to an end.
Citations:
[2013] UKUT 382
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.515455
