Refugee Status Appeals Authority
REFUGEE APPEAL NO. 70656/97
RE KB
AT AUCKLAND
Before: R P G Haines (Chairman)
S Joe (Member)
A Wang Heed (Member, UNHCR)Counsel for the Appellant: D J Ryken
Appearing for the NZIS: No appearance
Date of Hearing: 1, 2 & 3 September 1997
Date of Decision: 10 September 1997
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DECISION ______________________________________________________________________This is an appeal against the decision of the Refugee Status Section of the New Zealand Immigration Service declining the grant of refugee status to the appellant, a national of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
INTRODUCTION
The appellant is a 28 year old single man who has lived much of his life in Tehran. He arrived in New Zealand on 10 June 1992 at Auckland International Airport where, upon questioning, he applied for refugee status. A visitor's permit was issued and a formal refugee application was subsequently lodged on 7 July 1992 through his then solicitors, McKee & Co. The interview with the (then) Refugee Status Section of the New Zealand Immigration Service took place on 26 August 1992. By letter dated 17 September 1992 the application was declined. From this decision the appellant appealed to this Authority.The appeal was heard by a differently constituted panel of this Authority on 11 November 1993. Following considerable delay, in a decision delivered on 8 February 1995, the appeal was dismissed on the grounds that the appellant's case was not credible.
After further delay the appellant, by statement of claim dated 10 December 1996, instituted judicial review proceedings in the High Court, Auckland challenging the decision of the Authority.
The proceedings were heard on 7 and 8 July 1997 before Giles J. In a judgment delivered on 23 July 1997 (see B v The Refugee Status Appeals Authority (High Court, Auckland, M1600/96, 23 July 1997)) most, but not all, of the appellant's complaints were dismissed. The decision of the Authority was, however, set aside on the grounds that the Authority's adverse credibility finding had been reached on a mistaken basis. In remitting the case back to the Authority, Giles J at page 31 of the judgment made a number of observations:
"Having concluded that there are sufficient concerns to render the decision unsafe, I set it aside and remit the matter back to the RSAA. I direct that B's appeal be reheard by a differently constituted RSAA. I recommend that in the particular circumstances the RSAA give consideration to requesting that the Refugee Review Section [sic] be represented by counsel at the re-convened hearing, or alternatively that the RSAA appoint its own counsel to assist. That ought to enable the Authority to be assisted in the very difficult task it has of trying to get to the bottom of the truth or otherwise of the claims made by B in an inquisitorial hearing. The new hearing should be accorded priority. B has now been in New Zealand for five years. If he has no right to be here it is wrong for him to be lulled into a false sense of security.The new hearing should proceed on the basis of the written evidence already before the RSAA. B should be provided with the opportunity of an oral hearing. Although I leave it to the RSAA, there must be some limit imposed on B's right to produce extensive supplementary evidence. I entertain a concern that in this case B has sought to shelter behind claims of inadequate translation and has gained the advantage, through the judicial review proceeding, of effectively procuring a provisional decision highlighting areas of concern. The RSAA will be entitled to take those facts into account when it readdresses the issue of credibility and makes its findings of fact as to whether or not B's refugee status claim is "well founded."B should understand that the mere fact that I have remitted the matter for further consideration does not carry with it any implication that I believe B's evidence to be truthful, nor does the mere fact of remission imply that I hold a view that B is a credible witness. It remains open to the RSAA to reject B's credibility and/or to make findings of fact adverse to his claim to refugee status in a new hearing conducted in accordance with the principles of natural justice and addressing the concerns which are highlighted in this decision. The RSAA should not feel in any way constrained by the determination I have reached. It is a specialist tribunal; it is comprised of members well used to making assessments of credibility (which are often founded on the basis of demeanour, conduct and reactions at the hearing as much as on inconsistency grounds) and it must be left to it to decide the matter on the evidence and having regard to B's demeanour."It was against this background that the appeal was reheard by a differently constituted panel of the Authority over three full days on 1, 2 and 3 September 1997. The recommendation made by Giles J in the first paragraph of the passage cited above was not, however, followed. The Authority did not request the Refugee Status Branch to attend the hearing or to be represented by counsel. This is because hearings before the Authority are not adversarial and the present case does not have exceptionally difficult features. The essential attributes of the inquiry mandated by the Terms of Reference were described in Refugee Appeal No. 523/92 Re RS (17 March 1995) at 21:"It will be seen from Part II of the Terms of Reference that while the Minister of Immigration agrees to be bound by the Authority's decision (paragraph 5(4), neither the Minister nor the Immigration Service (including the Refugee Status Section thereof) is a party to the appeal, nor is there anything in the nature of or resembling a lis inter partes. There is no adverse party with an interest to contest applications for refugee status. The hearing before the Authority is not adversarial.Put another way, a negative decision at first instance by the Refugee Status Section followed by an appeal cannot in any way be seen as creating a lis in which the Refugee Status Section has an interest in defending its decision. The appeal process means no more than that the question whether the individual is a refugee becomes one for determination by the Authority on a de novo basis. In this process the Authority must consider the written decision of the Refugee Status Section officer and any other information in writing submitted by the Immigration Service (TR Part II paragraph 8(2)) and officers of the Refugee Status Section or other officers of the Department of Labour are entitled to give evidence in person to the Authority (TR Part II paragraph 8(5)). The Authority also has power to question officers of the Refugee Status Section and if necessary, other officers of government on the issues before the Authority (TR Part II paragraph 8(6)). The Refugee Status Section can also be called on by the Authority to obtain information and to carry out investigations (TR Part II paragraph 10)). But it is clear that these provisions are intended to enhance the Authority's ability to enquire into the question whether the refugee criteria are satisfied in the particular case, not to make the Refugee Status Section, the Immigration Service or the Minister of Immigration a party or to somehow create a lis inter partes."The Authority has, however, held that it does have jurisdiction to conduct proceedings in a part-inquisitorial and part-adversarial manner but it has not to date encountered a case in which it has been appropriate for the appellant to be subjected to cross- examination as in the adversarial process. See Refugee Appeal No. 2226/94 Re LRR (16 October 1996) 8:"The jurisdiction of the Authority to conduct the proceedings in a part-inquisitorial and part- adversarial manner is supported generally by Badger v Whangarei Refinery Expansion Commission of Inquiry [1985] 2 NZLR 688, 705 (Barker J) and more particularly by Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs v Immigration Review Tribunal (1993) 113 ALR 737, 744 (FC:Keely J). It was accepted by all parties that the appellant himself would not be subjected to the adversarial process given the generally inappropriateness of such approach in the refugee determination inquiry."As the present appellant's case involved no exceptional feature, this panel of the Authority determined that the case should proceed in the normal way as in an inquisitorial inquiry and that it would be inappropriate for the Refugee Status Branch to be represented by counsel. As to the suggestion by Giles J that the Authority appoint its own counsel to assist, we note that we have no such jurisdiction or power. Perhaps the suggestion was based on Khalon v Attorney-General [1996] 1 NZLR 458, (Fisher J) for we note that at page 18 of the decision in B, Giles J stated:"In Khalon although the hearing was inquisitorial, it is to be noted that the Refugee Review Section [sic] was represented by counsel at the hearing and exercised rights to question the witness. As a result the RSAA had the advantage of "quasi adversarial" format."With respect, this interpretation of Khalon is entirely mistaken and cannot stand in the face of the judgment itself. The Refugee Status Branch was not in fact represented at the hearing before this Authority. See in particular [1996] 1 NZLR 458, 462 lines 40-49 and the Authority's decision in Khalon's case (see Refugee Appeal No. 389/92 Re AUK (27 May 1994)) specifically records that there was no appearance for the New Zealand Immigration Service.We turn now to the facts of the present case.
THE APPELLANT'S CASE
The Authority was presented with a 400 page file and also received from the appellant a large supplementary bundle of documents as well as 12 pages of submissions. Included in this material was the appellant's statement made at the airport upon his arrival in New Zealand, a statement dated 7 July 1992, a statement dated 31 July 1992, an amended version of the statement dated 31 July 1992, the Refugee Status Section report, the appeal statement tendered at the hearing before the Authority on 11 November 1993, the transcript of the 11 November hearing, the appellant's affidavit sworn on 23 May 1995 and filed in the 1996 review proceedings and a second affidavit sworn on 22 May 1997. We see little point in summarising this evidence or in attempting a synopsis of the appellant's evidence given over a period of three days at the rehearing of this appeal. We believe that the appellant's case can be reduced to the following essential points:1. At the time of the 1979 Revolution, the appellant was approximately 11 years of age. Soon after the Revolution, his father was dismissed from the Iranian Telecom on the alleged grounds that he had assisted the Shah's secret police (Savak) and had also accepted bribes. The fact of his dismissal as well as the allegations of Savak assistance and the acceptance of bribes appeared in several newspapers published in Tehran. The family suffered economic hardship until the father was able to establish himself in a business as a broker buying and selling hothouse flowers. The appellant felt very deeply the injustice suffered by his father. His feelings towards the new regime hardened when he was refused entry to University on the grounds that he was not considered a sufficiently devout Muslim and also because he had not done his compulsory military service in the Iranian army, Iran and Iraq having been at war since the Iraqi invasion on 22 September 1980. The war did not come to an end until the cease-fire which came into effect on 22 August 1988.
2. At high school the appellant's best friend was X who, in the event, turned out to be a member of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Through this friendship the appellant gained access to PMOI literature and found that he and the Mojahedin shared similar values and ideals.
3. In August 1987 the appellant was arrested when a routine check revealed that he had failed to enrol for military service. Following his arrest, he was taken to a Sepah military camp to undergo training for one month before being posted for duty. Upon the completion of his training he was assigned to a Sepah unit which had responsibility for escorting munition convoys from the port of Bandar Abbas overland to towns situated further north. The appellant was garrisoned at Bandar Abbas where he worked in what can best be described as a despatch office, although he was also required from time to time to carry out escort duty as well.
4. The appellant's primary responsibility in the Sepah despatch office was to ensure that the munition convoys were properly assembled, adequately staffed and armed. To perform this task he had access to detailed information concerning the cargo of each convoy, the destination, route, departure time and size of the escort. Because of the pressures to be expected in a wartime situation, particularly in a congested port such as Bandar Abbas, the convoys were assembled in haste. The information concerning the cargo, route, destination and departure time would be known by the appellant at most only 24 hours before departure and on occasion only 12 hours before.
5. At 45 to 50 day intervals soldiers were entitled to 10 days' home leave. The appellant always returned to Tehran to visit his family. He also visited his friend X.
6. In December 1987 while on leave the appellant was introduced by X to two men called A and B whom the appellant assumed (rightly) were also members of the PMOI. Their interest in the appellant had been aroused by X who had told them about the appellant's role in the despatch office at Bandar Abbas and about his access to information which might be of assistance to the PMOI. At this first meeting the appellant agreed to provide information about munition convoys from Bandar Abbas in the hope that the PMOI could use the information to hasten the downfall of what the appellant believed to be a despotic regime.
7. It is to be remembered that at this stage the Iran/Iraq war was in its seventh year and that the PMOI had earlier in 1987 established an armed wing known as the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA). It was garrisoned at different points on the Iraqi side of the Iran/Iraq border. See Research Directorate, Documentation, Information and Research Branch, Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa, Canada, Iran: Political Opposition (August 1993) 2-3. John Laffin in The World in Conflict 1989: War Annual 3 (1989) 111 describes the NLA as well armed, well led and profoundly anti-Khomeini and made up largely of young people from Iran's middle class. Many of them were University graduates or students whose education was disrupted by Khomeini's Revolution. The numerical strength of the NLA is the subject of debate. The NLA itself claimed to have a strength of 15,000 stationed at five bases in Iraq. During 1988 it received reinforcements in the form of defectors from the Iranian armed forces. Laffin states that one of the NLA's biggest operations was a brigade attack on the Iranian army's 64th Division on 22- 23 November 1987 in the Piranshahr region of north-west Iran. According to NLA communiqués, 3,030 Iranian soldiers were killed or wounded, 310 prisoners taken, 10 tanks and 100 vehicles destroyed. In another action the NLA claims to have destroyed nine battalions and captured a large quantity of equipment, including four M-47 tanks.
Dilip Hiro in The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (1989) 202 mentions that on the night of 27 March 1988 the NLA launched an offensive in the Fakeh region along the highway to Dezful. Although they claimed to have overrun 370 square miles of Iranian soil, they were quickly expelled by the Iranian forces.
8. We mention these facts only to emphasise that the appellant's claimed willingness to help the PMOI/NLA cannot be dismissed as fanciful or as being inconsistent with known events. The PMOI was not a new organisation. It had been founded in 1965 and there is no doubt that it was instrumental in overthrowing the Shah and in consolidating the Revolution. However, following the dismissal of President Bani Sadr on 21 June 1981 the regime turned on the PMOI, forced its leadership into exile and thereafter the Mojahedin were subjected to mass arrests and summary executions. Between 7,000 and 8,000 people are believed to have been killed in 1981 and 1982 alone. In response the PMOI initiated a national campaign of armed rebellion against the Islamic regime: Iran: Political Opposition (August 1993) 2-3.
9. In April 1988 the appellant was asked by the PMOI (via X) for intelligence concerning ammunition convoys travelling north from Bandar Abbas to NL. The information was in due course provided and this led, in turn, to a PMOI attack on a convoy carrying small arms ammunition from Bandar Abbas to NL. Some 10 members of the escort were killed. The ammunition was taken by the PMOI.
10. Thereafter the appellant continued to provide intelligence to the PMOI once or twice a month and his meetings in Tehran with X, A and B continued whenever their leave coincided.
11. On 26 July 1988, less than a month before the cease-fire came into effect, the NLA seized Karand and Eslamabad-e-Gharb on the Baghdad-Tehran highway. They then moved to Bakhtaran (formerly Kermanshah) when the Iranian forces cut off their supply lines and counter-attacked. On 29 July the NLA announced a withdrawal and the Iranian forces claimed to have killed 4,500 NLA and Iraqi troops: Dilip Hiro, The Longest War:The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (1989) 246- 247.
The NLA invasion led to the biggest wave of executions in Iran since 1980-1981. The primary targets were members of the PMOI, their supporters and suspected supporters. See for example "Iran now a slaughterhouse" NZ Herald, Monday, May 8, 1989 and the Amnesty International report, Iran: Political Executions (AI Index:MDE13\29\88,December 1988)
12. Notwithstanding these developments, and notwithstanding also that the cease-fire came into effect on 22 August 1988, the appellant continued to provide information to the PMOI (via X) concerning munition convoys from Bandar Abbas because he had been told by A and B at one of their meetings in Tehran that the NLA hoped to mount an offensive in December 1988 or January 1989 on the north-western border near FJ and it was hoped that by attacking ammunition convoys destined for FJ that the garrison there would be weakened. The appellant knew from what he had been told by A and B that both men were to be personally involved in the operation. In the result (according to the appellant) there was indeed fighting in that region in December 1988-January 1989. He learnt from contemporaneous television and press coverage that the Iranian forces had prior notice of the attack and a large proportion of the Mojahedin forces were killed. The munition convoy itself was not attacked.
13. The appellant learned from X that both A and B had survived the battle but had gone into hiding in Iran as it was no longer possible for either man to return to his post in the Iranian army. The appellant was particularly concerned for his safety as A and B knew the appellant's name and military unit. X undertook to notify the appellant immediately should either A or B be arrested.
14. Fearing that desertion would draw attention to himself, the appellant continued to serve at the Bandar Abbas garrison until his two year period of service came to an end in August 1989.
15. Thereafter, conscious of the need for security, the appellant elected not to live in Tehran. He went to the town of [H] situated north-east of Tehran where he found employment as a fitter and turner in a relative's business. He and X agreed that they would not meet again. It was arranged that X would get a message to the appellant (via the appellant's parents) should events take a turn for the worse. The appellant did not give X his address in [H].
16. The next two years and eight months passed without incident. However, in April 1992 the appellant received a letter from X (via his parents) reporting that both B and A had been arrested a few months earlier and had disclosed everything, including the appellant's identity and role in providing classified military information to the PMOI. Approximately two weeks later the appellant left [H] and returned to Tehran where he stayed with a relative for the next five weeks while he made arrangements to procure a false passport and safe passage out of Iran. During this time he had no contact with his parents and eventually left Tehran by air on 2 June 1992 bound for Malaysia. On 10 June 1992 he arrived in New Zealand.
17. Following his arrival in New Zealand the appellant contacted the Tehran relative to report his escape. Subsequently he received a letter from his parents advising that the family home had been raided by the authorities in search of the appellant and that the family were under surveillance. The appellant destroyed the letter as he was then in a hostel in Auckland along with a large number of Iranian asylum- seekers and did not want others to know of his personal circumstances.
18. Subsequently, in 1993 the appellant received a letter from the relative in Tehran forwarding various documents (later produced in evidence) requested by the appellant on the advice of his solicitor. The letter advised the appellant that his father had suffered a heart attack because of the visits by the authorities and the continuing pressure placed on the family.
Since then no other letters have been received by the appellant.
However, at the time of the Iranian new year in 1995, 1996 and 1997 the relative in Tehran spoke to the appellant by telephone. In 1995 the relative mentioned that he had learnt from the appellant's family that the authorities were still looking for the appellant and were continuing to place pressure on the family. In the result one of the appellant's brothers had left Tehran and moved to [H] in order to escape from the pressure. In neither the 1996 telephone call nor that in 1997 had the relative made mention of the appellant's family experiencing problems or difficulties on account of the authorities' interest in the appellant.
For the appellant it is submitted that if his account is accepted as credible he will be at real risk of persecution were he to be returned to Iran as the authorities are now aware that he is guilty of providing classified military information to an enemy and was indirectly responsible for the killing of a number of Iranian soldiers.
The first panel of this Authority which heard the appellant's appeal on 11 November 1993 made an adverse credibility finding with the result that the appellant's refugee application was declined. We, as the second panel of this Authority rehearing the case pursuant to the order made by Giles J on 23 July 1997, must necessarily arrive at an independent assessment of the appellant's credibility.
THE ISSUES
The Inclusion Clause in Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention relevantly provides that a refugee is a person who:"... owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it."In terms of Refugee Appeal No. 70074/96 Re ELLM (17 September 1996) the principal issues are:1. Objectively, on the facts as found, is there a real chance of the appellant being persecuted if returned to the country of nationality?
2. If the answer is Yes, is there a Convention reason for that persecution?
ASSESSMENT OF THE APPELLANT'S CASE
As mentioned, the rehearing of the appeal occupied three full days. The appellant was the only witness. Having paid close attention to the appellant, we are satisfied that there was nothing about his demeanour to suggest that he was other than an honest and reliable witness.The Authority was nevertheless struck at times by the apparent implausibility of aspects of the appellant's claims. We mention in three examples only:
(a) First there is the account of the appellant's first meeting with B and A in the mountains just outside Tehran. The appellant said that he went to the mountains with X and it was there that X suggested that the appellant assist the PMOI by providing intelligence concerning convoy movements. The appellant, apparently without pausing, readily agreed even though he was aware of the dire consequences should he be caught. X then asked if the appellant would be prepared to meet two "friends". The appellant again readily agreed and at this point B and A immediately emerged effortlessly from the gloom of the approaching dusk as if they had been observing the appellant's dialogue with X. In addition, the appellant appears to have been incautious in the extreme. That is, although the appellant was aware that "A" and "B" were pseudonyms (he never discovered the true identity of the two men), he and X referred to each other by their first and family names, thereby disclosing their identity to the other two men.
(b) The appellant's description (which is too complicated to detail here) of the method by which he communicated information to X required the Authority to accept that the PMOI had provided X with a device which allowed the appellant to telephone X without risk of the Iranian authorities being able to trace the call. It also required the Authority to accept that the PMOI provided X with a fax machine to which written information concerning convoy movements could be sent by the appellant. In fairness, the appellant did detail in his evidence the code he used for both written and telephonic communications, the information being disguised as orders for fruit or vegetables. But the Authority was intrigued by the fact that at times the appellant communicated the information by way of post and fast post, especially when long distance convoys were involved to places such as Tehran and Tabriz. This method assumed that the Iranian postal system was an efficient one, notwithstanding the exigencies of the war and would arrive well ahead of the particular convoy. However, we acknowledge that Iranian society does present a picture of contradictions at the best of times and this was no doubt accentuated during the eight year war.
(c) Our greatest concern related to the apparent tardiness with which the authorities acted once B and A identified the appellant as the source of their information. The two men were apparently arrested at the end of 1991 or in early 1992. At some point a confession must have been extracted as the letter from X made specific mention of it. News of the confession could only have reached X some time after the Iranian authorities themselves knew of it. Yet X had time not only to receive the information (no doubt through a series of filters, each involving delay) but also to then write to the appellant care of the appellant's parents who in turn posted the letter to the appellant in [H]. The appellant thereafter remained in [H] for one or two weeks and only then moved to Tehran. Although the relative with whom he stayed there was in contact with his parents, by the time the appellant came to depart from Iran on 2 June 1992 he had received no report whatever of visits by the authorities to the family home in Tehran or to the address in [H]. Even if one assumes that X became aware of the disclosure of the appellant's identity almost simultaneously with the making of the confession, there is a gap between April 1992 and 2 June 1992 when nothing happened, or nothing appeared to happen. The appellant suggests that during this period the authorities lay in wait for him and X in the hope that surveillance would lead to even further PMOI contacts. Be that as it may, the Authority remains concerned at the lack of activity on the part of the authorities in circumstances in which one would have expected immediate action.
The Authority therefore has reservations about the appellant's credibility. In fairness to him, however, it must be acknowledged that he did have ample opportunity to give a false account of his post-arrival contact with relatives in Tehran and of the information conveyed to him. That is, to exaggerate the interest shown by the authorities. Yet he has not taken advantage of this opportunity.
Taking all matters into consideration, the Authority is not prepared to reject the appellant's case on credibility grounds simply because aspects of it appear to be implausible. There are too many other circumstances which lend support to the claim. We refer in particular to the chronology of events, particularly insofar as they coincide with established facts concerning NLA activities in Iran. We were also impressed by the fact that when the appellant had ample opportunity to exaggerate or invent in relation to post-flight communications, he did not take advantage of that opportunity. The simple fact of the matter is that should the appellant's claims be true, there is no doubt whatever that should he return to Iran, his fate would be sealed. It would be no exaggeration to say that he would face torture, imprisonment and death on account of his political beliefs. In these circumstances such doubts as we have about his claims must be resolved in his favour. Those doubts are not of a nature or degree that would allow a positive finding to be made that in its material respects, his claim is not true.
EXCLUSION
Article 1F(b) of the Refugee Convention provides that the Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that:"(b) He has committed a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge prior to his admission to that country as a refugee"We do not believe that this provision has application to the facts of the present case as the appellant's crime cannot properly be described as "non-political". See Refugee Appeal No. 1222/93 Re KN (5 August 1994). In the circumstances there is little cause for a discussion of the subsequent decision of the House of Lords in T v Secretary of State for the Home Department [1996] AC 742 (HL). In any event, on the facts, the "test" suggested by Lord Lloyd at 786H-787B (Lord Keith and Lord Browne-Wilkinson agreeing) is satisfied, namely the offence of passing military secrets to the NLA was committed with the object of overthrowing or subverting or changing the government; there was a sufficiently close and direct link between the crime and the alleged political purpose and in this regard the means used to achieve the end was one in which the crime was aimed at a military target and there is no suggestion that civilians were involved, injured or killed.Because the facts are clear there is no need for us to enter into a discussion of the issue of proportionality in the sense of whether the crime must be balanced against the persecution faced by the claimant to see if the gravity of the persecution outweighs his or her character. Proportionality in this sense has been categorically ruled out in the Canadian context. See for example Gil v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration) [1995] 1 FC 508, 534 (FC:FC) and Malouf v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (1995) 190 NR 230 (FC:CA). In T v Secretary of State for the Home Department [1996] AC 742 the issue of proportionality is discussed only by Lord Mustill at 768-769. The majority decision given by Lord Lloyd does not appear to address the issue at all.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, based upon a case presented much more fully at the second hearing than at the first, and also taking into account facts not before the first panel of this Authority, both issues are answered in the affirmative and we find that the appellant is a refugee within the meaning of Article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention. Refugee Status is granted. The appeal is allowed.“R P G Haines”
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[Chairman]