Knife-wielding Somalian migrant can stay in UK ‘because he's from minority tribe'

Telegraph

2 days ago

A Somalian convicted of knife crime in Britain can stay in the UK because he is a member of a clan that faces persecution in his home country.
Abdilahi Essa Darwish, who was jailed for violence and wielding a blade, has won an immigration case after an asylum tribunal ruled he may come to harm if sent back.
The Home Office tried to deport Darwish, 41, after his conviction but a judge said it was a violation of his human rights as he was part of a minority tribe and would face 'persecution' if he was returned to the African nation.
Darwish has now been granted protection in the UK.
Refuge for 'fear' of majority clans
The upper tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber was told that Darwish originally came to Britain in June 2001 and claimed asylum that summer.
The hearing, in Bradford, was told he was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2002 because he qualified as a refugee due to his clan membership.
At the time of his arrival the Home Office accepted he had a 'well-founded fear of persecution' from majority clans in Somalia.
It is said that he could face harm, punishment, or even torture if he were to return – a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
In 2021 the Home Office tried to deport Darwish and revoke his protected status when he committed knife crime.
A tribunal report said: '[Darwish] committed an offence of possession of a bladed article and affray in respect of which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
'Thereafter the [Home Secretary at the time, Priti Patel] made a decision to deport [Darwish] to Somalia and to revoke his refugee status and this was done on January 5, 2021, and the deportation order was made on February 9, 2021.'
Reasons for 'persecution' not clear
Darwish, who claimed he had a mental health condition, instructed lawyers to launch an appeal.
He won his appeal at the First-tier Tribunal last year but the Home Office appealed that decision at the Upper Tribunal.
The Home Office argued that last year's tribunal 'failed to establish a reason for which [Darwish] would suffer persecution on return to Somalia'.
Theey added that the circumstances under which he was granted refugee status in 2002 had changed.
However, Upper Tribunal Judge Christopher Hanson found that Darwish still remains a refugee for the same reasons as in 2002 and so dismissed the Home Office's appeal.
The tribunal heard that official country guidance for Somalia states: 'The starting point is that male and female members of minority clans from the south will, in general, be at risk of breaches of their Article 3 rights, and will be refugees, in the absence of evidence that they have a clan or personal patron and the means to access that area of safety without a real risk.'