The appellant sought asylum. He had fled Sri Lanka. He was a Tamil and feared torture if he returned. His application had been rejected because the consequences flowed from his suspected involvement in terrorism, and that was not a Convention reason.
Held: Cases involving claims for refugee status under the Convention are particularly fact-sensitive. The judge had been wrong to allow any legal presumptions as to the factual basis of assessment. The applicant had failed to bring his case within a convention reason.
Judges:
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Steyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hutton and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Citations:
Gazette 22-May-2003, Times 24-Mar-2003, [2003] UKHL 14, [2003] 1 WLR 840
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Sivakumar v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 24-Jul-2001
The applicant for asylum was a Tamil. He was persecuted. He claimed it was political. The possibility of drawing that inference was greater when legal mis-treatment was not expected to be followed by legal proceedings. Excessive or arbitrary . .
Cited – The Republic of Ireland v The United Kingdom ECHR 18-Jan-1978
The UK lodged a derogation with the Court as regards its human rights obligations in Northern Ireland because of the need to control terroist activity. The Government of Ireland intervened. From August 1971 until December 1975 the UK authorities . .
Cited – T v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 22-May-1996
The applicant for asylum had been involved in an airport bomb attack killing 10 people. Asylum had been refused on the basis that this was a non-political crime. Though the organisation had political objectives, those were only indirectly associated . .
Cited – Nalliah Karanakaran v Secretary of State For The Home Department CA 25-Jan-2000
Where the applicant for asylum could show that members of his family had been killed or persecuted by the authorities, the level of proof required that he would be under threat was not the normal civil standard of proof, but that of a reasonable . .
Cited – Regina v Immigration Appeal Tribunal and Another ex parte Shah HL 25-Mar-1999
Both applicants, Islam and Shah, citizens of Pakistan, but otherwise unconnected with each other, had suffered violence in Pakistan after being falsely accused them of adultery. Both applicants arrived in the UK and were granted leave to enter as . .
Cited – Suarez v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 22-May-2002
The applicant for asylum had been threatened with death after witnessing a multiple murder as an army soldier. He had been already shot at before escaping.
Held: So long as an applicant can establish that one of the motives of his persecutor . .
Cited by:
Appealed to – Sivakumar v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 24-Jul-2001
The applicant for asylum was a Tamil. He was persecuted. He claimed it was political. The possibility of drawing that inference was greater when legal mis-treatment was not expected to be followed by legal proceedings. Excessive or arbitrary . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v K, Fornah v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 18-Oct-2006
The claimants sought asylum, fearing persecution as members of a social group. The fear of persecution had been found to be well founded, but that persecution was seen not to arise from membership of a particular social group.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration
Updated: 14 June 2022; Ref: scu.179982