Man who claims he was tortured by Algerian police for peaceful protests has refugee status refusal overturned

High Court Reporters

An Algerian man who claims he was tortured by police in his home country for his involvement in national peaceful protests has had a refusal of his refugee status bid here quashed by the High Court.

The man, who cannot be named, arrived in Ireland in 2021 and applied for international protection in July of that year.

Among the documents he submitted to the judging body here, the International Protection Office (IPO), were photographs and videos from the weekly protest events held by an Algerian political group called 'Hirak', which led to the 2019 resignation of the then president.

In May 2022, the man was interviewed here for refugee status but was rejected. He was then granted an oral hearing for his appeal which, in July 2023, upheld the decision.

The man (47) submitted in his High Court challenge that he is married with children and is a Muslim man of Algerian ethnicity. He submits that in February 2019 he began participating in the movement, whose marches which took place on Fridays across Algeria.

He submits he was first arrested in February 2021 and was warned that if he was found participating in marches again he would be re-arrested.

The man claims he was then re-arrested in April 2021, detained for two nights and tortured by police while in custody, sustaining leg injuries, photos of which were attached to his Irish IPO application.

After his release by Algerian police, the applicant submits, he believed he was being monitored by the authorities. He applied for a visa to the United Kingdom and subsequently travelled there before he came to Ireland.

According to the grounds of appeal to the High Court, the man submits that the IPO accepted as true, his nationality, personal circumstances and that he participated in the 'Hirak' movement.

However, the IPO made an adverse credibility decision in relation to his claims concerning his arrests and beatings in custody and document submissions thereafter.

He further claimed he suffered subsequent persecution by police over his involvement in the protests. He submitted two Algerian summonses to the IPO, which, he said, had been sent to his house - one to attend the offices of the police and another to attend court.

The IPO determined that they were unable to verify the origin and authenticity of these documents.

In his appeal, he submitted that the IPO had failed to properly assess the two documents.

In his High Court judgment, Judge Micheál O'Higgins said "the assessment process carried out by the tribunal was flawed".

The judge said that there was an "inadvertent breach" of the statutory code in that the tribunal omitted to take into account "all relevant facts" as they related to the country of origin, including information on whether the applicant has been or may be subject to persecution or serious harm, as submitted in the documents.

Judge O'Higgins said the High Court would quash the IPO refusal and remit the matter to the tribunal for fresh consideration.