TG (Mixed Ethnicity)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | H J E Latter |
| Judgment Date | 18 March 2003 |
| Neutral Citation | [2002] UKIAT 7289 |
| Court | Immigration Appeals Tribunal |
| Date | 18 March 2003 |
| Docket Number | APPEAL NO HX/51623/2001 |
[2002] UKIAT 7289
IMMIGRATION APPEAL TRIBUNAL
Mr H J E Latter (Chairman)
Mr A A Lloyd, JP
Rt Hon the Countess of Mar
APPEAL NO HX/51623/2001
For the appellant: Mr B Hussain, of Counsel, instructed by Aston Clarke, Solicitors
For the respondent: Mr D Ekagha, Home Office Presenting Officer
TG (Mixed Ethnicity) Ethiopia CG
This is an appeal by Tigist Getachew, a citizen of Ethiopia, against the determination of an Adjudicator (Mrs C M A Jones) who dismissed her appeal against the respondent's decision made on 25 March 2001 giving directions for her removal following the refusal of her claim for asylum.
The appellant arrived in the United Kingdom on 20 April 1998 using a false passport. She claimed asylum on 23 April 1998. Her claim was supported by a statement dated 30 August 2000. She said that her father was a prominent and one of the regional leading figures of the All-Amhara People's Organisation (AAPO). She supported him by providing secretarial services and working as a liaison between him and the group under him. Her claim was based on her political opinion as a supporter of AAPO. She claimed that on 15 November 1998 she had been arrested and detained for 3 months. During that period she was subjected to ill-treatment including beatings and rape. In her statement she said that her mother disappeared because of her origins. In her interview she explained that her mother was Eritrean and had been deported to Eritrea. For the reasons which the respondent has set out in his reasons for refusal letter dated 21 December 2000 he was not satisfied that the appellant had a well-founded fear of persecution. He noted that the appellant claimed that her father had been arrested in 1995 and held for a year but he still lived in Ethiopia.
The Adjudicator has summarised the appellant's account in paragraphs 4–8 of her determination. She said that the appeal was first listed for hearing on 8 May 2002 when the appellant raised a fresh basis for her asylum claim, her mixed ethnicity and the fact that her Eritrean mother had been deported to Eritrea. The case was adjourned for this issue to be reconsidered. The Home Office maintained their decision. The appeal was heard on its merits by the Adjudicator on 18 June 2002. It was the appellant's claim that she became involved with and gave secretarial assistance to AAPO, gradually increasing her involvement to attending demonstrations and assisting with leaflet distribution. She said that her role increased in importance and she became involved in youth recruitment and secret conferences. Her father was arrested in May 1995, and brutally beaten in front of both her and her mother. He was detained for a year. On 15 November 1997 the appellant herself was arrested because of her involvement with AAPO. She spent 3 months in detention where she was beaten, tortured and raped. In February 1998 she was released on condition that she report fortnightly to the police station. She says that she was constantly watched, followed and intimidated. Sometimes she was picked up and taken to a police station for no apparent reason. Unable to tolerate this level of harassment she decided to flee the country and did so in April 1998.
The Adjudicator's assessment of the appellant's credibility is set out in paragraphs 28–34 of her determination. The Adjudicator noted that the appellant had claimed she was released from detention on 27 February 1998 in her SEF whereas as interview she said that it was 27 February 1997. The Adjudicator did not accept her explanation that she had not adapted to a change to the European calendar. She found the appellant's description of the circumstances of her arrest far fetched. She commented that although the appellant had indicated throughout that she was of mixed ethnicity, she had failed until the hearing date on 8 May 2002 to reveal that she feared persecution on that account. She found it extraordinary that she had failed to mention this fear earlier and accepted the respondent's assertion in his letter of 14 June 2002 that this issue was added in an attempt to enhance her claim to remain in the United Kingdom.
The background evidence supported the appellant's description of prison conditions as poor but the Adjudicator's examination of the objective material did not reveal to her a predilection on the part of the guards for the rape of female prisoners. She came to the view that the appellant had grossly exaggerated her claim. She accepted as reasonably likely the fact that she was of mixed Ethiopian/Eritrean race and was a low level supporter of AAPO but she was not satisfied that the appellant had been arrested, detained tortured or raped as she alleged. In the light of those findings she was not satisfied that the appellant had a well-founded fear of persecution nor that to return her would be a breach of the United Kingdom's obligations under the Human Rights Convention.
Mr Hussain sought to challenge the reasons on which the appellant's account had been rejected. In particular he submitted that it was wrong to draw an adverse inference from the appellant's failure to raise her fear of persecution due to her mixed ethnicity before the hearing on 8 May 2002. The position was that at the hearing on 13 March 2002 the Secretary of State's representative had informed the Adjudicator that he wished to seek an adjournment so that the issue of ethnicity could be covered as it was a matter not dealt with in the refusal letter. The appellant had not sought the adjournment. The issue had been raised by the Secretary of State. Even if he came to the view that it did not give rise to a well-founded fear of persecution, it was wrong to criticise the appellant by saying that she had...
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