Egbuono v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [2000] FCA 1931

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Egbuono v The Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs

[2000] FCA 1931

EGBUONO v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 724 of 2000 CARR J 22 DECEMBER 2000 PERTH

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY N 724 OF 2000

BETWEEN: EGBUONO GABRIEL

Applicant

AND: THE MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: CARR J

DATE OF ORDER: 22 DECEMBER 2000

WHERE MADE: PERTH

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the respondent's costs. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY N 724 OF 2000

BETWEEN: EGBUONO GABRIEL

Applicant

AND: THE MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: CARR J

DATE: 22 DECEMBER 2000

PLACE: PERTH

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

introduction 1 This is an application for an order of review of a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal, made on 4 July 2000, affirming the decision of a delegate of the respondent not to grant a protection visa to the applicant.

factual and procedural background 2 The applicant, who is a citizen of Nigeria and is 35 years of age, arrived in Australia on 7 April 2000. On 11 April 2000 he applied for a protection visa. On 18 May 2000 a delegate of the respondent refused to grant that visa. On 22 May 2000 the applicant applied to the Tribunal for review of that decision.

the applicant's claims before the Tribunal 3 The applicant's claims to refugee status were on the twofold, but related, bases of race and religion. The applicant is of Ibo ethnicity and a Roman Catholic. The Ibo People, originally from the south-east of Nigeria were displaced during the Biafran Civil War. 4 The following is a summary of the applicant's claims. As a result of the Biafran Civil War the applicant's family moved to Kano, a northern city. Due to discriminatory practices against Ibos in the north, the applicant was sent by his parents for schooling in their original home state of Enugu in the traditional Ibo south-east. After finishing school the applicant returned to Kano and has lived in the north since that time. He returned to Enugu to marry a local Ibo woman who then accompanied him back to Kaduna (a city some distance south of Kano) where he was then living. 5 In January 1992 the applicant began work as a qualified fireman in the Kaduna Refinery of the National Petroleum Company which was a major enterprise employing some 2,000 people. Muslim workers – the majority of the employees – stopped work at the prescribed Muslim prayer times and the company provided facilities for their prayer sessions. The applicant, as a devout Roman Catholic, decided to instigate a midday observance of the Angelus. Half a dozen other Catholics joined him in a daily participation in this ritual. In early January 1996, on arrival at work, he was handed a letter of dismissal without any explanation. The applicant was unable to find other work in his area of expertise. In January 1997 he accepted employment by the Catholic Church as a catechist. The Church provided a house for him and his family within the church grounds. 6 The applicant claimed to have been well known for his religious activities as a young man in Kano where he was active in the Catholic Youth Organisation, later becoming chairman. He was in the forefront of religious processions, crusades and rallies. He was well known both in Kano and in Kaduna. His brother had also been sacked from his employment (in the State Education Department) for introducing Christian prayer meetings at work. His brother went back to Enugu where the applicant's parents now live in retirement. The applicant was involved in an incident in 1998 when young Muslim men intended to inflict serious injury upon him. He understood the local dialect being spoken, realised what was happening, and ran to safety. Kaduna State (which was once a single State as part of Kano State) has a half Muslim, half Christian population. Earlier this year there was a move by the State Government to introduce Sharia law. Christians rallied to protest against any such move and the Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination, liaised with all the opponents of Sharia law. The applicant, in his role as chairman of the Catholic Youth Organisation, notified the State Governor (as required) of an orderly rally which the church planned for 22 March 2000. It was a big march, led by the Catholic Youth Organisation members and attended by many family groups, including women and children. En route to Government House, the march was set upon by violent Muslim youths. The Catholic youths decided to fight back. There was great violence, during which the police stood by, doing nothing. The applicant claimed that more than 50 people died. He and the chairman of the church council (a Mr John Ike) ran back to their church, St Anthonys, and sought shelter in the priest's house. The Muslim mob burned down both St Anthony's Church and the house in which the applicant and his family had been living. The applicant's wife and his children eventually joined him at the house of the priest, Father Buckland, an Irishman. They were safe from the Muslim mob because Father Buckland was a foreigner whom the mob would not dare to harm. The applicant claimed that the Muslim mob searched for the applicant and Mr Ike because they were identified as Catholic leaders of the march and important opponents of Sharia law. He claimed that the Kaduna Muslims arranged for Hausa comrades in Enugu State to go to the applicant's family home there. The applicant gave an account of violence which occurred in Enugu on about 24 or 25 March 2000 involving not only local Muslims and/or Hausas but also people who had travelled from Kaduna to Enugu to search out the applicant. When news of this violence reached Father Buckland, he decided that the two men (the applicant and Mr Ike) should leave Nigeria. With the priest's help the applicant escaped, initially to Bulgaria and then, via Vienna, to Australia.