Veerawagu, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, December 18, 2008, [2008] EWHC 3157 (Admin)

Reporting Judge: [2008] EWHC 3157 (Admin)

President: Veerawagu, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

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Veerawagu, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, December 18, 2008, [2008] EWHC 3157 (Admin)

Neutral Citation Number: [2008] EWHC 3157 (QB)

Case No: CO/665/2007

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 18 December 2008

Before :

LORD CARLILE OF BERRIEW QC

Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court

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Between :

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Jonathan Martin (instructed by Indra Sebastian Solicitors) for the Claimant

Deok Joo Rhee (instructed by Treasury Solicitors) for the Defendant

Hearing date: 11 December 2008

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JUDGMENTLord Carlile of Berriew QC :

Background

1. The issue in this case is whether the Secretary of State for the Home Department has acted unlawfully in finding that the Claimant's renewed claim for asylum is not a ``fresh claim''.

2. The Claimant is a 50 year old Sri Lankan national. He is a medical practitioner, qualified in both Russia (where he obtained his primary qualifications) and Sri Lanka. He arrived in the United Kingdom on the 26th April 2000 and claimed asylum on the grounds that he feared persecution in Sri Lanka.

3. He is a Tamil from the North of the island. His original application for asylum was founded on fear of both the Tamil LTTE (claiming that the LTTE would consider him to be a traitor) and the Sri Lankan authorities (claiming that in the past they had arrested, detained and tortured him as an LTTE activist, and might well do so again).

4. His application for asylum was refused by the Secretary of State on 2 February 2004, and his appeal against that refusal was dismissed (on both asylum and human rights grounds) by an immigration judge in a Determination promulgated on the 19th April 2005.

5. It was accepted that he is a Tamil, and that his account of his past history was credible. That history includes a period of 19 days' det...

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