VQAB v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2004] FCA 89

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

VQAB v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs [2004] FCA 89 Paul v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2001) 113 FCR 396 cited NAHI v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2004) FCAFC 10 cited S157 v The Commonwealth (2003) 195 ALR 24 cited VQAB v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS V 461 OF 2003 SUNDBERG J 13 FEBRUARY 2004 MELBOURNE

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY V 461 OF 2003

BETWEEN: VQAB

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGE: SUNDBERG J

DATE OF ORDER: 13 FEBRUARY 2004

WHERE MADE: MELBOURNE

THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. The application be dismissed. 2. The applicant pay the respondent's costs of the application.

Note: Settlement and entry of orders is dealt with in Order 36 of the Federal Court Rules.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

VICTORIA DISTRICT REGISTRY V 461 OF 2003

BETWEEN: VQAB

APPLICANT

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AND INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS

RESPONDENT

JUDGE: SUNDBERG J

DATE: 13 FEBRUARY 2004

PLACE: MELBOURNE

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

BACKGROUND 1 The applicant is a citizen of Iran who arrived in Australia on 1 November 1999 without any travel documents. On 6 January 2000 he lodged an application for a protection visa. On 22 March a delegate of the respondent refused to grant the visa. The Refugee Review Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision on 21 June 2000. On 6 June 2003, nearly three years later, the applicant sought judicial review of the Tribunal's decision.

THE CLAIMS 2 The applicant claimed he had a well‑founded fear of persecution by reason of his race, religion or actual or imputed political opinion. He claimed to be Kurdish and a Sunni rather than a Shiite Muslim. He said he had graduated from a university in Teheran in 1995 where as a student he attended meetings and conferences during which he and others discussed "issues affecting our people and our dissatisfaction with the situation in Iran". As a result of these meetings the security forces spoke to him, and he was threatened and warned not to organise any more meetings. He said his name was placed on a blacklist, and because of his involvement in political activities against the government he could not get a government job or a passport. 3 The applicant said he attended a demonstration in mid‑1999 at the university which extended over four days. He and others broke into the campus with a view to freeing students who had been trapped by the security forces. He and some forty others were arrested and kept for about four hours in a locked room. They were abused and assaulted. The applicant claimed he was identified from a company ID card he was carrying, and that he was released only when a larger crowd of demonstrators confronted the police. He said he then marched in the demonstration and held up placards which were critical of President Khatami. The applicant claimed that after the demonstration he went into hiding for forty days. He said he obtained a false Iraqi passport because Iraqis were free to leave Iran without checks. He left Iran on this passport, pretending to be part of a group of Iraqis who were leaving Iran. Because of this he was not suspected. He did not have the passport with him when he arrived in Australia.