MHC v Refugee Appeals Tribunal

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys
• Judgment Date: 14 November 2016
• Neutral Citation: [2016] IEHC 648
• Docket Number: [2016 No. 559 J.R.]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 14 November 2016

[2016] IEHC 648

THE HIGH COURT

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Humphreys J.

[2016 No. 559 J.R.]

BETWEEN

MHC

APPLICANT

AND

THE REFUGEE APPEALS TRIBUNAL, MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND EQUALITY

RESPONDENTS

Asylum, Immigration & Nationality –S. 5of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000 – Refusal of asylum claim – Adverse credibility findings – Religious conversion – Ill motive

Facts: Following the rejection of applicant's application for subsidiary protection by the second named respondent, the applicant now sought leave to seek judicial review of that impugned decision of the second named respondent. The applicant contended that the first name respondent had erroneously made negative credibility findings in relation to the issue of religious conversion owing to the confusion over dates of conversion.

Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys refused to grant leave to the applicant. The Court held that the findings concerning the credibility of the applicant in relation to his conversion to a particular community was correct. The Court held that the applicant's only motive to convert to the particular community after his arrest by the immigration authorities was to gain the benefit given to the asylum seeker of that particular community. The Court held that there was nothing irrational or illogical in the findings made by the decision-maker.

JUDGMENT of Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys delivered on the 14th day of November, 2016

1 The applicant was born in 1984 and brought up as a Sunni Muslim. He arrived in the State in 2006 on a student visa, which expired in February, 2010. He was arrested in April, 2010, as a person unlawfully in the State. There then followed two significant developments in quick succession. Firstly the notion of applying asylum first occurred to the applicant in May, 2010 (despite having being in the State for four years). Secondly he formally converted to Ahmadiyya Islam, although he says in his affidavit that he had been interested in it during previous years. The certificate of conversion shows a date of 17th May, 2010.

2 His asylum claim was duly refused and he applied for a subsidiary protection on 22nd of August, 2012. That application was rejected ultimately by the tribunal on 15th June, 2016. The present application challenging that decision is out of time, but I will proceed for present purposes on the assumption that time would be extended (although I am not deciding that there are grounds to do so).

3 The substantial grounds test applies by virtue of s. 5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000, and I have had regard to the law in relation to that test including McNamara v. An Bord Pleanála [1995] 2 I.L.R.M. 125 as approved in In re Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill 1999 [2000] 2 I.R. 360 at 395.

4 The Refugee Applications Commissioner made a detailed adverse finding regarding the applicant's credibility in relation to the matter of his religious conversion. That finding was basically accepted by the tribunal in...