Migrant can stay in UK after ‘far-fetched' claim he was shot by lover's father

Telegraph

18 hours ago

An Iraqi asylum seeker has been allowed to remain in the UK after 'far-fetched' claims that he was shot by his married lover's father in an attempted honour killing.
The unnamed migrant claimed that he was gunned down and left in hospital by his girlfriend's family following a secret affair.
The Iraqi, in his late 20s, said he was outside his home in Iraq when his lover's disapproving father and brother shot him in the shoulder. He claimed the woman's father was a 'powerful' and 'influential' man who had connections with the Iraqi government.
After arriving in Britain, he is now trying to claim asylum on humanitarian grounds by arguing that he cannot be deported because he is at risk of becoming an honour killing victim.
A previous ruling at an asylum court dismissed his case, finding that he was not 'credible' and casting doubt on his 'far-fetched' story.
However, the man has won an appeal after a new ruling said the original judge made legal mistakes.
The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph in which illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their removal from the UK.
Ministers are proposing to raise the threshold to make it harder for judges to grant the right to remain based on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to a family life, and Article 3, which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The Iraqi man, of mixed Arabic and Kurdish ethnicity, lodged his asylum claim in September 2020, having arrived in the country. On his way to Britain, he spent time in France and had an asylum bid rejected in Denmark.
'The basis of the [Iraqi's] claim is that he cannot return to Iraq as he fears he is at risk of an honour killing from the family of a woman with whom he had an extra-marital relationship,' the tribunal said. 'He claims that [her] father is a powerful person with connections to the Iraqi government.'
The Iraqi said he was in a 'secretive' relationship with the unnamed woman and was not aware of her father's 'rank, power and influence' before he began the relationship, only finding out later from her and a friend.
The woman was married and 'forced to return to her family home', according to the man. He said he never met the woman's family but was able to recognise them after seeing photos at her home.
He alleges that her father and brother shot him outside his own home and that he had to be treated in hospital for a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Account 'not credible'
When the Home Office tried to deport him, he appealed against the decision. However, a lower-tier tribunal ruled that his account was 'not credible' and that 'he does not face a real risk of suffering serious harm in Iraq'.
The judge at the time cast doubt over whether he was able to recognise the father and brother during the shooting, saying it was 'far-fetched' that he recognised them during the 'moment of heightened anxiety'.
The judge also said the Iraqi gave 'confusing' and 'varying' accounts of who had shot him while in hospital. There was also no direct evidence of the injury, with his medical notes merely stating that he had a 'historic shoulder injury'.
However, after a further appeal to an upper immigration tribunal, a judge has ruled the lower tribunal made mistakes in law that meant it could not be said the Iraqi's account about being shot was not credible.
The panel concluded that the legal mistakes 'cast sufficient doubt on the overall approach to the credibility assessment'. The case will be reheard at the first-tier tribunal.