A wife, afraid with cause of being stoned to death for adultery if she returned home, was part of ‘a particular social group’ within the Convention, and was entitled to claim asylum. Commenting on the unique complexity of such cases: ‘Its adjudication is not a conventional lawyer’s exercise of applying a legal litmus test to ascertain facts; it is a global appraisal of an individual’s past and prospective situation in a particular cultural, social, political and legal milieu, judged by a test which, though it has legal and linguistic limits, has a broad humanitarian purpose.’
Judges:
Sedley J
Citations:
Times 12-Nov-1996, [1996] EWHC Admin 148, [1997] Imm AR 145
Statutes:
Geneva Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (1951) (Cmd 9171) 1A(2), Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 8(2)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.136696
