Iranian ‘sex toy smuggler' wins right to remain in Britain

Telegraph

28-04-2025

An Iranian asylum seeker who argued he could not be deported because he was a 'sex toy smuggler' has won his legal battle to remain in Britain.
The unnamed man applied for refugee status in the UK, claiming that the authorities in his home country looked on his illicit business activities adversely.
He claimed he smuggled boxes of vibrators and other adult devices across the border. Under Islamic law, sex toys are illegal and there is a ban on bringing them into Iran.
The Iranian man's 'elaborate' argument was dismissed by a lower-tier immigration tribunal, which said he gave 'inconsistent' and 'implausible' evidence to support it.
However, he successfully appealed the decision in an upper-tier immigration tribunal after claiming asylum on different grounds.
He argued that he would face persecution if returned to Iran on the basis of his campaigning against the Tehran regime at protests in London and on Facebook.
The upper tribunal backed his asylum claim on the basis that he would face persecution if returned to Iran, which would breach his human rights under the Refugee Convention.
The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example exposed by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have used human rights laws to remain in the UK or halt their deportations.
There are a record 41,987 outstanding immigration appeals, largely on human rights grounds, which threaten to hamper Labour's efforts to fast-track removal of illegal migrants.
As part of his bid for refugee status, the Iranian, who was granted anonymity, took his case to the first-tier tribunal where he said he had come to the 'adverse attention of the Iranian authorities as a smuggler of sex toys.'
But the tribunal did not accept his account, saying he gave 'inconsistent evidence about the number of boxes he smuggled'.
'The circumstances in which it was claimed that the authorities had identified him from material he had left behind were found to be implausible,' say the court papers.
The first-tier tribunal also dismissed his claims that he would face persecution because of his protests against the Tehran regime.
It found that his political expressions at demonstrations and subsequent anti-Iran posts on Facebook were not genuine and were a ruse to help him secure refugee status.
However, the Iranian appealed his case at the Upper Tribunal, which found that the first-tier tribunal made a mistake in its findings about his protests.
Upper Tribunal Judge Paul Lodato said: 'My starting point must be that I should approach the [Iranian's] evidence with a degree of caution because he is a man who has been found to have contrived an elaborate and false narrative about the events he claims caused him to flee Iran.'
Turning to the protests, Judge Lodato said the man attended nine demonstrations outside the Iranian Embassy in London with photographic evidence confirming his presence.
Although not a 'central or prominent' protester, it showed he had been committed to demonstrations over almost four years.
The Home Office argued that the fact he began to engage in political activity so soon after his arrival in the UK indicated it was a fabricated claim 'bolstered by false activity.'
Judge Lodato said: 'I have examined [the Iranian man's Facebook with care. It reveals a consistent and committed outpouring of political opinion over a considerable period.
'It can be seen that he has been posting anti-regime and pro-Kurdish rhetoric on a regular basis since October 2021.
'I have carefully considered the timing of his posts to assess whether his political opinions betrayed the mechanical and routine postings which might be expected of a metronomic and cynical excise designed to bolster a false asylum claim.
'I could discern no such patterns. Instead, the frequency resonated with a more natural engagement with political social media of this nature.'
The judge found that the Iranian would face 'real risk of persecution' and the man won his appeal on refugee convention grounds.