LONDON: A landmark decision from the High Court of Justice London reported on 16 March 2022 whereby an Afghan national claimant represented by famous Human Rights lawyer/Solicitor Mr Amer Manzoor, from Pakistani origin practicing in London and Counsel Mr Mansoor Fazli from 12-Old Square.
This case of AHN, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 582 is of important nature because according to the Hugh mercer QC sitting as a deputy Judge of the High Court London’s view- impact other similar cases.
The Defendant in this case was Secretary of the State for the Home Department UK.
The SSHD refused to grant the Claimant British Citizenship on good character grounds. The Claimant, a doctor’s naturalization application was refused because he was a member of the Hizb-e-Islami (HEI) in Afghanistan. The organisation was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000.
This is also an interested case because newspapers articles whereby Margaret Thatcher meeting Pakistan’s military ruler President Zia-ul-Haq in 1980 were provided in support of the claim. This was also discussed in the judgement that those circumstances are material in consideration of assessing the character when the claimant joined the HEI during the time when the western allies were encouraging volunteers to join HEI in 1989 by providing weapons, financial and military support and that support continued for a period is to be relevant to the reasons for joining HEI.
The Secretary of the state is to pay the £30,000 cost in this case. This landmark case is a good hope for those people their naturalization applications were refused on character base.
Mr Amer Manzoor was born in Pakistan and started practising as a Human Rights Solicitor in London since 2010. He is one of the finest legal minds in Human Rights law.
