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Convicted criminal wins appeal against deportation because of alcoholism (29 April 2015)

Date: 29/04/2015
Duncan Lewis, Immigration Solicitors, Convicted criminal wins appeal against deportation because of alcoholism

A judge has ruled that a 53-year-old Libyan man who has been convicted of more than 78 criminal offences cannot be deported from the UK because he would face “unacceptably savage abuse” in his own country for being alcoholic.

Drinking alcohol is illegal in Libya and it is likely the man would be imprisoned and tortured for what is considered a crime.

The judge said that deporting the man would be a breach of his human rights.

The man was granted anonymity by the courts and can only be identified by the initials HU. He has fought a seven-year legal battle to be allowed to remain in the UK after first being told he faced deportation.

It is reported he came to the UK in 1981 to study engineering – but apart from a short stay in Libya between August 1993 and October 1994, he remained in Britain.

However, the Upper Immigration Tribunal ruled that deporting the man would violate the European Convention on Human Rights – enshrined in UK law by the Human Rights Act.

The court found that removing the man from the UK would breach Article 3 of the Human Rights Act – the right to avoid inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; as well as Article 8 of the Act, which grants the right to a private or family life.

Expert witnesses had told the court that in Libya, in the case of someone who was a habitual drunk, there was a chance of “virtually permanent detention” by the Libyan authorities.

In his written judgment, Judge Jonathan Perkins said:

“Under the rule of militia, the usual routine for a person found drinking was arrest, possible whipping and detention for a few days.”

The ruling is the latest defeat for Home Secretary Theresa May in the Home Office’s attempts to deport foreign criminals after they have completed their jail sentences in the UK.

The Daily Mail reports that the case has cost the UK taxpayer a six-figure sum in legal costs.

Conservative Party member Peter Bone – who is the Tory candidate for Wellingborough in Northamptonshire – said the case demonstrated why the UK should abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.

“This kind of things drives people mad,” said Mr Bone. “On the doorstep they find cases like this outrageous.

“Few people will think this man should remain in the country,” he added. “He has completely abused our hospitality.”

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