The High Court has quashed a decision refusing international protection to an Algerian man after finding that the appeals tribunal failed to properly assess country information and potentially important documentary evidence.
Mr Justice Micheál O’Higgins delivered judgment on 27 February 2026 in proceedings brought by an applicant identified as T.
The applicant claimed he had participated in Algeria’s Hirak protest movement, had been arrested twice in 2021 and feared prosecution if returned. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal accepted that he had participated in Hirak protests but rejected material parts of his account as vague, implausible or inconsistent and upheld the refusal of refugee status and subsidiary protection.
The High Court found that aspects of that credibility assessment were unsafe. Country-of-origin material before the tribunal described Hirak as an informal, decentralised movement and recorded arrests and repression of perceived activists. The court held that this context was not sufficiently taken into account when the tribunal treated it as implausible that the applicant could have spoken at a rally despite not belonging to a formal organisation.
A second problem concerned two summonses which the applicant said had been issued by Algerian authorities. The tribunal rejected them as unreliable but did not meaningfully assess their contents, form, potential authenticity or significance when considered alongside the country information.
O’Higgins J stressed that the court was not deciding whether the documents were genuine or whether the applicant ultimately qualified for protection. Those matters remain for the tribunal.
The judge also rejected a separate argument that the tribunal had unlawfully relied on the applicant’s demeanour, finding that its references to having seen and heard him were not enough on their own to invalidate the decision.
The court granted a short two-day extension of time for the judicial review and ordered that the tribunal decision be quashed and the protection appeal reconsidered afresh.