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Duncan Lewis successful in High court Unlawful Detention case in relation to Ethiopian national (23 September 2015)

Date: 23/09/2015
Duncan Lewis, Public Law Solicitors, Duncan Lewis successful in High court Unlawful Detention case in relation to Ethiopian national

Duncan Lewis were successful in the Unlawful Detention case of an Ethiopian national and failed asylum seeker in Malta who was found to be unlawfully held in Immigration detention for seven weeks pending deportation.

The case concerned Mr Ararso. Mr Ararso, 27, an Ethiopian national was a failed asylum seeker in Malta where conditions were found to be extremely poor. Mr Ararso’s first judicial review application was reported as MB and others v. SSHD [2013] EWHC 123 (Admin) and was previously one of the lead cases on Malta returns. These cases were withdrawn on appeal to the court of appeal as the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) withdrew the certification decisions, so the matter was settled by consent.

In the current cases, Mr Justice Kerr, after a two day hearing, agreed with the conclusions arrived at by the Upper Tribunal in the case of R (Binyan Hagos) v. SSHD [2015] UTIJR 6 and dismissed the claims on issues that were not considered in Hagos. Justice Kerr held that with regard to conditions in Malta, the evidence does not rebut the presumption that Malta will comply with its relevant international law obligations.

Mr Justice Kerr concluded Ararso’s detention had been lawful initially because his removal from the UK was imminent, but he said circumstances changed when Ararso announced his intention to challenge the SSHD’s decision to deport him. The judge said Ararso had been unlawfully detained between 16 September and 7 November 2014. Both parties lodged an application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Kerr J refused permission.

Duncan Lewis are now planning to apply for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Krisha Prathepan, Duncan Lewis Public Law Solicitor who represented Mr Ararso added;

‘We are delighted that the Court found that the SSHD had had unlawfully detained our client between 16th September 2014 and 7th November 2014. However, we believe that we have produced substantial and compelling evidence that strongly supports that removal to Malta would be unreasonable for our client and have appealed this decision. We await a decision on this appeal’

This case was featured in the Guardian on 14th September 2015. This can be accessed here.


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