Asylum – credibility – transit through safe countries

The applicant claimed to have fled Afghanistan after he refused to take part in a suicide bombing in the capital of Kabul. He had been sent to Pakistan for schooling by his father who was a former member of the Taliban. While in Pakistan he claimed to have been subjected to forms of indoctrination and recruited to carry out a suicide bombing attack in Kabul. Upon arrival in Kabul he did not carry out the attack but instead fled. He claims his life would be in danger from both Government authorities and the Taliban if he returned to Afghanistan.

He claims to have travelled through Iran, Greece and the UK. At another stage of the investigation he also claims to have travelled through Kazakhstan. He spent some months in Greece in particular and transited through the UK, arriving in Belfast before travelling to Dublin.

His application was rejected at both first instance and upon appeal to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. In particular it was found the applicant lacked credibility based firstly on the account given of his father’s involvement in his schooling and secondly (and primarily) on his travel history. It was found that if he had indeed suffered from a real fear of persecution he would have applied for asylum in the first safe country. In coming to this finding the RAT member relied on the citation of a Canadian case (Asamoah). He sought judicial review of the rejection before the High Court. 

The case did not concern a direct application of the Charter. Rather the finding of the Court of Justice in NS that there exists a systematic violation of Article 4 EU Charter in Greece was used to confirm the reasonableness of the applicant’s failure not to apply for asylum in Greece and therefore affirm his credibility.