Nasseri v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Admn 2 Jul 2007

The applicant had sought and been refused asylum. He was found to have come via Greece, and steps were put in place to return him there. He now complained that the provision which allowed no discretion to the respondent to look at his case when the third party country was listed as safe was in breach of his human rights.
Held: A declaration of incompatibility was granted. Counsel for the respondent argued that a declaration could only be granted where a country had been left on the list of ‘safe’ countries when it should be removed. This was mistaken. The deeming provision operated to prevent investigation of a potential breach. This was not merely a denial of a remedy; it directed the respondent not to comply with his obligations under article 3: ‘Failure to conduct an adequate investigation of the risks of loss of life or torture or inhuman and degrading treatment is a breach of the substantive article and it is that investigation that the deeming provision impedes.’

Judges:

McCombe J

Citations:

[2007] EWHC 1548 (Admin), Times 03-Aug-2007, [2008] 1 All ER 411, [2008] 2 WLR 523, [2007] HRLR 36, [2007] UKHRR 1008

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004 Sch 3

Cited by:

Appeal fromSecretary of State for the Home Department v JN CA 14-May-2008
The Secretary of State appealed against a declaration that paragraph 3(2)(b) of Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the 2004 Act was incompatible with Article 3. The clause was said to restrict the Home Secretary from considering anything beyond the country . .
At First InstanceSecretary of State for the Home Department v Nasseri HL 6-May-2009
The applicant had claimed asylum after fleeing Afghanistan to Greece and then to the UK. On the failure of his application, he would be returned to Greece, but objected that he would thence be returned to Afghanistan where his human rights would be . .
At First InstanceNasseri v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Sep-2013
Questions set for the parties . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Immigration

Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.254346