SBAM v Minister For Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2002] FCA 475

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SBAM v Minister For Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2002] FCA 475 SBAM v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS S.229 of 2001 MANSFIELD J 24 APRIL 2002 ADELAIDE

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY S.229 OF 2001

BETWEEN: SBAM

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGE: MANSFIELD J

DATE OF ORDER: 24 APRIL 2002

WHERE MADE: ADELAIDE

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The application is dismissed. Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY S.229 OF 2001

BETWEEN: SBAM

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL & INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGE: MANSFIELD J

DATE: 24 APRIL 2002

PLACE: ADELAIDE

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This application is made under s 39B of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth). It seeks an order setting aside a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal (the Tribunal) given on 23 November 2001. The Tribunal affirmed a decision of a delegate of the respondent given on 29 August 2001 refusing to grant to the applicant a protection visa under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) (the Act). 2 The applicant was accepted by the Tribunal as being a citizen of Iran, and (as he claimed) to have completed his schooling at age 18 in 1996, to have been a competition level wrestler, including being a national champion in 1999, to have served in the Iranian police force during his period of national service between 1997 and 1999, and to have worked as a construction worker thereafter. 3 The Tribunal also accepted much of the applicant's family background as he claimed. In particular, it accepted that the applicant's uncle had been executed in 1981 soon after the former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini came into power. It also accepted that the applicant's cousin, the son of that uncle, had been executed by the Iranian regime in 1996 for having planted a bomb in an arms factory. It also accepted that the applicant's brother, who had been living with that cousin, was also arrested in 1996 after police had seized a gun and dissident publications from that house, and is still apparently in detention as he has not since been seen. The Tribunal thus concluded: "I therefore accept that the applicant would be known as belonging to a family where there was a strain of anti-government activity, and that this would be a factor taken into consideration whenever matters concerning the applicant and national security might emerge."