Sobhani v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2001] FCA 1746

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Sobhani v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs [2001] FCA 1746

MEHRAN SOBHANI v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS W 336 of 2001 CARR J 7 DECEMBER 2001 PERTH

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY W336 OF 2001

BETWEEN: MEHRAN SOBHANI

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: CARR J

DATE OF ORDER: DECEMBER 2001

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 W336 OF 2001

BETWEEN: MEHRAN SOBHANI

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND

MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: CARR J

DATE: 7 DECEMBER 2001

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 18 July 2001, by which the Tribunal affirmed the decision of a delegate of the respondent not to grant a protection visa to the applicant. The applicant, who is a citizen of Iran, arrived in Australia on 19 June 2000. On 1 March 2001 the applicant lodged an application for a protection visa with the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ("the Act"). On 26 March 2001, a delegate of the respondent refused to grant a protection visa and on 29 March 2001 the applicant sought review of that decision.

the applicant's claims and the Tribunal's decision 2 At his initial interview upon arrival in Australia, the applicant's claims were, in summary, that: · He was an umarried Shi'ite Muslim who had lived in Ahwaz, at the same address, since birth. He was the owner of a clothing shop. He performed his standard two years' military service between 1989 and 1991. According to the interviewer's notes, he claimed to have obtained a valid Iranian passport in his own name by legal means. Those notes indicate in some detail, that a people-smuggler took the passport from him. · He began planning to come to Australia about a year before he arrived. He departed Iran on 30 May 2000. He spent two nights in Malaysia and nine days in Indonesia on the way to Australia. · Neither he nor any member of his family had ever been involved in any activities either with or against any political group or the government of Iran. · There was an incident in which he and his sister were stopped by authorities when they were walking together in the market. He was later taken to the office of an organisation concerning itself with social corruption and had to wait for his parents to come and verify that he was only walking with his sister. · He complained of corruption. He spoke of the high cost of living. He said he had no other reasons for leaving Iran than those recorded at his entry interview but cited as an example of corruption the fact that his brother who served in the Iran/ Iraq war was only paid veterans' compensation for a short time. 3 In a written statement attached to his application for a protection visa, lodged eight months after the arrival interview, the applicant claimed as follows: · He had not divulged his whole story at the initial interview because he was afraid for his life in Iran because when he was told that his interview would be recorded he feared that his file would reach Iranian authorities. · The applicant claimed that he had attended at the organisation in Teheran responsible for paying monies and providing goods and services to war veterans such as his brother. The name of the organisation was the Buniade-Janbazan. · By bribing a servant at that organisation the applicant obtained access to his brother's file and found that some officers of the organisation had embezzled the entitlements which should have gone to his brother. · When he remonstrated vigorously with those in charge at the Buniade-Janbazan he had been taken into custody by intelligence officers beaten and tortured to the extent that he was hospitalised. · With the aid of a nurse at the hospital he had escaped custody. · He had fled Iran from a port called Govaneh in a fishing boat which took him to Dubai. · After one week in Dubai he had telephoned his brother's home and been informed that the authorities had gone to their home and searched it looking for the applicant. They had threatened his family and told them that they had to submit the applicant to the authorities as soon as they got any information about him. He flew from Dubai to Malaysia and then to Indonesia. · He feared harm if returned to Iran because he had fled from the hospital when he was in custody, because he had left the country illegally and because he had problems with Janbazan organisation. 4 In written submissions to the Tribunal, prepared by his migration agent, the applicant asserted that when he had angrily denounced the Buniade-Janbazan officials, he had also "yelled angry criticisms of the regime and its clerical leadership for theft and corruption and treatment of the people of Iran." He further claimed to fear persecution for reasons of imputed political opposition to the ruling fundamentalist Islamic theocratic leadership in Iran arising out of this "enraged outburst".