R (Yassine and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 06 March 1990 |
| Date | 06 March 1990 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Division
Before Mr Justice Schiemann
Immigration - refugee - political asylum
The Home Secretary acted unlawfully in directing the removal to a third country of a person, with a ticket to that country but seeking political asylum in the United Kingdom, where he had no cause to believe that the refugee would be admitted to that country.
Mr Justice Schiemann so held in the Queen's Bench Division when allowing applications for judicial review by six applicants against the decisions of the Home Secretary on January 30, 1990 not to consider their applications for political asylum and to direct their removal from the United Kingdom to Brazil.
Paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971 provides: "(1) Where a person arriving in the United Kingdom is refused leave to enter, an immigration officer may … (c) give … directions … requiring … his removal from the United Kingdom … to a country or territory so specified, being … (iv) a country or territory to which there is reason to believe that he will be admitted."
Article 31 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (Cmd 9171) provides: "(1) The contracting states shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of article 1, enter or are present in that territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence."
Mr Nicholas Blake for the applicants; Mr Guy Sankey for the Home Secretary.
MR JUSTICE SCHIEMANN said that each of the applicants had obtained from the Brazilian Embassy in Beirut a tourist visa to enter Brazil and held return airline tickets there from Lebanon.
They arrived at Gatwick Airport via Cyprus. They had not applied for, still less obtained, United Kingdom visas. Nevertheless, they immediately claimed political asylum.
The Home Secretary decided not to consider their applications for asylum. That decision was based on the fact that the applicants had visas for admission to Brazil and held tickets for travel to that country, had no connection with the United Kingdom and that it was reasonable to expect them to apply for asylum in Brazil.
The applicants contended that they obtained the...
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