The High Court has quashed a Refugee Appeals Tribunal decision refusing refugee status to an Eritrean man after finding that significant medical evidence supporting his account of torture had not been properly addressed.
A.M.N., who was from Asmara and was aged 74 when the judgment was delivered, claimed that he was arrested in Eritrea in February 2009 after police discovered a Pentecostal religious service taking place at his family home. He alleged that he was detained for more than seven months, repeatedly beaten and subjected to painful restraint before escaping during an attack on a prison convoy. These were claims made by the applicant and were not independently established by the High Court.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal rejected his overall account as not credible. Among other matters, it questioned aspects of his escape, his journey through Sudan and his account of travelling to Ireland using a false passport.
However, A.M.N. had submitted a medical report from Dr Sabrina Vassia of SPIRASI. She recorded scarring, reduced power and movement in his left arm and other physical findings which she assessed as consistent or highly consistent with the history he gave. She also diagnosed severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr Justice McDermott held that the Tribunal had essentially recited the medical report before stating that it had to be considered alongside the applicant’s overall account. That was insufficient because the report provided objective evidence capable of supporting important parts of his claim.
The judge said the Tribunal was required to explain what significance it attached to that evidence and, if rejecting its probative value, give cogent reasons for doing so. Its failure to do that amounted to an error of law and fundamentally undermined the decision.
The court rejected the applicant’s remaining challenges to other credibility findings. It nevertheless granted certiorari, quashing the July 2010 Tribunal decision and sending the case back for reconsideration by a differently constituted Tribunal.