Migrant can stay in UK because he does not want to shave

Telegraph

25-06-2025

An asylum seeker from Tajikistan has been allowed to stay in the UK because he would have had to shave his beard off if he was deported.
The unnamed man won an appeal after arguing that he could be tortured and have his facial hair forcibly removed if he was sent back home.
The Home Office tried to deport him back to the Central Asian state, but an asylum court has now ruled that he may be entitled to international protection in the UK because of his beard.
In Tajikistan, beards are unofficially banned by the Government and hundreds of thousands of men have been arrested for having one in the last decade.
Men in the country with beards are arrested, shaved against their will and have their fingerprints taken by police.
It is part of a government campaign to try to prevent men from becoming radicalised and joining Islamic extremist terror groups.
The man's claim was initially dismissed but he appealed and secured a further hearing of his case after it was ruled that being forced to have his hair removed amounted to persecution rather than being the result of social pressures.
The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have used human rights laws to try to halt their deportations.
Ministers are proposing to raise the threshold to make it harder for judges to grant the right to remain based on Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which protects the right to a family life, and Article 3, which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
After his claim was initially rejected, the Tajik man, who was granted anonymity, appealed on the basis that the judge at the first-tier tribunal made 'contradictory' findings about his fear of persecution.
He claimed that the tribunal had not properly assessed whether he would shave his beard because of 'social pressures' or because of a 'fear of being persecuted'.
The Tajik man said he would shave off his beard if he was sent back but only because he would have 'no option' as he would be at risk of persecution.
Parminder Saini, the Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal, said: 'The [First-tier Tribunal] judge has failed to assess whether the [Tajik man] is shaving off his beard because of 'social pressures' or due to a 'fear of being persecuted'.
'We find that this represents inadequate and incomplete reasoning in relation to the key issue of why the [Tajik man] is willing to shave his beard on return to Tajikistan.
'If he wears a beard out of religious conviction but will conform for reasons of securing his safety, he may be entitled to international protection.
'If, however, he would conform because of social or other pressures, or simply because wearing a beard is not an act of faith for him, and not because of the risk of persecution, then he may not be a refugee.'
He added: 'We also note that the judge has failed to consider the objective risk to the [Tajik man] by reference to the background material before him.
'[His lawyer] took us to several examples... which pointed to torture and mistreatment remaining widespread, arbitrary arrest being commonplace, thousands of Tajik men having their beards forcibly shaved and being fingerprinted and recorded by the authorities etc.
'Thus, these examples of background material before the judge were relevant to, and should have informed, his assessment of whether the [Tajik man] was at risk on return as well as the likelihood of whether [he] would feel compelled to shave due to fear, but they find no mention in the decision.'
Judge Saini ruled that the previous decision was set aside and that his case must be heard again at the First-tier Tribunal.