Tawakoli v Secretary of State for the Home Department

The Upper Tribunal ruled that the Applicant’s claim for judicial review of the refusal to treat as a fresh claim his further submissions regarding his alleged conversion to Christianity and the alleged breaches of his Article 3 and 8 ECHR rights that would flow from removal to Afghanistan was dismissed.  The decision made was a rational one and could not be impugned on the basis of the Respondent’s treatment of the material available to her at the time of her decision.  Nor was there any basis for impugning it on the basis of material now available which suggested that the Applicant, who had been removed to Afghanistan following the decision challenged, had been arrested and detained on account of his conversion.  The existence of any Article 3 ECHR risk was to be assessed primarily with reference to those facts which were known or ought to have been known to the Secretary of the State at the time of expulsion. 

Naina Patel acted as Counsel to the Respondent.