03/12/2021

Zulfiqar (appellant) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department (respondent)

Wednesday 1^st December 2021

Second appeal. National of both Britain (as born here) and of Pakistan (by descent). Refusal of human rights claim and decision to deport. He has resided in the UK since he was born in 1979. 5 motoring and drugs convictions prior to index offence of murder with mandatory life prison sentence with a minimum term of 15 years plus 2 concurrent terms of 2 years for violent disorder and assault.

The applicant applied unsuccessfully to be transferred to prison in Pakistan which was refused because he would not be subject to the supervision arrangements and could then come back to the UK . Hence he then applied to renounce British citizenship which was accepted. He applied unsuccessfully for repatriation. In 2017 he applied unsuccessfully to resume British citizenship. The SSHD concluded that deportation must be under the 1971 Act as the UKBA did not apply because the applicant had been a British citizen at the time of the offence.

The FTT noted that the applicant wanted to transfer to Pakistan to be near to his ageing father and found that there were no very compelling circumstances or arguments based on Article 8 ECHR to render deportation disproportionate.

The UT dismissed the appeal finding no material error. The UKBA did not apply but the provisions of S.117 NIAA 2002 did. There was an inconsistency in the definition of foreign criminal in the 2007 and 2002 Acts and the applicant was a foreign criminal for the purposes of the latter. The FTT had not erred in finding that it would not be unduly harsh for the applicant’s partner to remain without him. The FTT had correctly balanced Article 8 factors and found that deportation was proportionate. The applicant had not been induced by the authorities to renounce his citizenship.

View hearing:

Part 1

Part 2