THE HIGH COURT has dismissed a challenge brought by a man with alleged links to Islamic terrorism against the State’s bid to deport him.
The man, aged in his 50s, has been living in Ireland for several years. He had claimed he is at serious risk of ill treatment and torture if deported to his native country.
The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claims he is at risk due to his political views.
The Minister for Justice issued the deportation order after An Garda Siochana informed the Department of Justice that the man’s activities and associates are “of serious concern” and “contrary to the State’s security”.
In his proceedings the man argued the minister’s decision was unlawful and had sought orders seeking to quash the deportation order.
The man rejects claims he is involved in terrorism. However, during the proceedings the High Court heard he had been convicted of terrorism offences in France and in his native country.
In his judgment clearing the way for the man’s deportation, Justice Richard Humphreys dismissed all grounds of the man’s application.
The judge said the minister’s decision, that there were no substantial grounds to find that the man would be at real risk of ill treatment if deported to his home country, was lawful.
Irish Refugee Appeals Tribunal
The man represented by Michael Lynn SC, appearing with David Leonard BL, instructed by solicitor Gavin Booth of KRW Law, had claimed his exclusion from the State would breach both EU law and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
This was because the Irish Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which considered the man’s application for subsidiary protection, found that he would be at risk of serious harm or torture if returned to his native country.
The minister, represented by Remy Farrell SC and Sinead McGrath BL, opposed the application and argued she is entitled to deport the man.
In his judgment the judge said the minister had applied the correct legal tests when considering the information before her, including country of origin material, and found there were a lack of grounds to apprehend there was a real risk the man would be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment if deported.
Three life sentences
The man was convicted in his native country during the 1990s and given three life sentences and two death sentences, which are no longer carried out.
Those offences include forming an armed terrorist group intending to spread murder, sabotage, possession of prohibited war weapons assassination, theft intending to harm the security of his home country.
The judge said the man was also convicted and jailed for eight years in France.
He was arrested there in 2002 and found guilty of charges including membership of a criminal organisation preparing an act of terrorism in Ireland, France, UK, Spain and Andorra between 1997 and 2002.
He was also convicted of using false documents, receiving stolen goods and illegally entering France. Following the expiry of his sentence he was deported back to Ireland where he was granted asylum in 2000.
The judge also said the man had “falsely stated” as part of his asylum application that members of his family had been killed by extremists, that a sibling had been arrested and he had been shot by government forces in his native country.
Following his return to Ireland the man’s refugee status was revoked in 2011.
The judge said the man is currently serving a six month prison sentence in Ireland, after he pleaded guilty to having fraudulently obtained travel documentation which he had presented when attempted to board a flight to Greece.
Credibility issues
The judge said the minister had assessed all the individual circumstances of the man, including country of origin material which shows a general improvement in the country concerned.
All matters had been fully considered by the minister he said, including the man’s general lack of credibility and the fact that one of his brothers, who had also been convicted of terrorist offences, is not being ill-treated in their home country.
The man’s credibility was seriously impaired, the judge added, by his multiple identities, criminal history, fraudulent previous asylum applications.
The judge put a stay preventing the man’s deportation in the event his lawyers apply for permission to appeal the judgment.
The case will return before the court in a week’s time.
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