SM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Leveson |
| Judgment Date | 01 July 2013 |
| Neutral Citation | [2013] EWCA Civ 992 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | Case no: C5/2012/2629 |
| Date | 01 July 2013 |
[2013] EWCA Civ 992
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
(IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM CHAMBER)
[APPEAL No: AA/07948/2008]
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Leveson
Case no: C5/2012/2629
Mr Abid Mahmood (instructed by Fountain Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Applicant
The Respondent did not appear and was not represented.
On 28 February 2013 I adjourned this application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal to await the conclusion in the decision of the Court of Appeal in the linked appeals SS (Zimbabwe) the Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWCA Civ 377. On 26 March the decision of the Court of Appeal was handed down: see [2013] EWCA Civ 237, and one might have thought that it would be possible to see a way clear to bringing this long running appeal to a conclusion. That aspiration was given greater force consequent upon the very recent issue of country guidance in relation to disclosure provided by the Upper Tribunal in CM v the Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] UKUT 00059. On 10 May 2013, however, an application was made for leave to appeal CM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department which came before a very experienced court consisting of Laws and Beatson LJJ. Leave to appeal was granted: see [2013] EWCA Civ 660. Laws LJ observed that in view of the nature of the grounds upon which the court was granting permission, it was not possible to delineate which parts of the present extant country guidance vis-a-vis Zimbabwe may be affected. He directed expedition.
Mr Mahmood, who appeared before me on the previous occasion, has made it clear that in other Zimbabwean cases in which he has been instructed in the Court of Appeal, it is arranged for the matters to be listed for directions before the Vice-President and that he will consider what to do with these cases pending the hearing of the country guidance appeal.
It is of course a matter of great concern that these issues continue to be unresolved, but their significance is important. It is by no...
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