Court of Appeal to hear Zimbabwean asylum case

Court of Appeal to hear Zimbabwean asylum case

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN asylum seekers seeking the declaration of the southern African country as an "unsafe destination" to deport failed asylum claimants from Britain have been granted permission to argue their case in the Court of Appeal.

Appeal Court judges have instructed government lawyers and the Refugee Legal Centre's representatives to prepare for the case during the current term, which ends on December 19.

The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) ruled in August this year that there was no "automatic risk" of Zimbabwean deportees "being subjected to persecution or serious mistreatment".

A Zimbabwean man fighting the marathon test case, known only as AA, appealed.

Sarah Harland of the Zimbabwe Association said Tuesday: "Permission has been granted to appeal, and we should expect that to be done before December 19.

"It will be on very technical grounds and on points of law. The issue is whether
the tribunal came to the correct decision in August. Until the appeal is heard,
and a decision handed down, no Zimbabweans on Zimbabwean passports should be detained or deported."

Harland said there were currently between 15 to 20 asylum seekers held in
British immigration removal centres, some of whom entered the UK on Malawian or South African passports.

Others have finished serving prison sentences and the government is seeking to
deport them.

Harland refuses to speculate on how the case might turn out.

She said: "The law is a bit of a mystery. You can think you can win and it goes
the other way, and when you think you will lose, you get surprised. I guess we
just have to wait and see, but much depends on the judges who will hear the
appeal and the political climate at the time."
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