RT (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Subject Matter

IMMIGRATION — Asylum — Fear of persecution — Claimants having no political beliefs — Asylum claims refused on ground that able and willing to feign support for persecutory regime in country of nationality — Whether reasonable to expect claimants to lie about lack of political beliefs to avoid persecution — Whether claimants facing risk of persecution on grounds of imputed political belief — Whether entitled to refugee status — Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and (1967), art 1A(2)

[2012] UKSC 38; [2013] 1 AC 152; [2012] 3 WLR 345; [2012] 4 All ER 843; [2012] INLR 562; [2012] WLR (D) 226; The Times, 15 August 2012; Case details, SC(E)

IMMIGRATION — Asylum — Fear of persecution — Claimants not engaging in political activities in Zimbabwe fearful of persecution for opinions imputed to them — Asylum claims refused for failure to establish well-founded fear of persecution — Whether claimants reasonably to be expected to profess loyalty to regime or lie to authorities to avoid persecution if returned to country of nationality — Test to be applied — Whether claimants entitled to refugee status — Conventional and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) (Cmd 9171) and (1967) (Cmnd 3906), art 1A(2)

[2010] EWCA Civ 1285; [2011] Imm AR 259; [2011] INLR 217; [2010] WLR (D) 295, CA

Appellate History