ECtHR - N.K. v. France, Application No. 7974/11
| Country of applicant: | Pakistan |
| Court name: | Fifth Section; European Court of Human Rights |
| Date of decision: | 19-12-2013 |
| Citation: | Application No. 7974/11 |
Keywords:
| Keywords |
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Credibility assessment
Description
Assessment made in adjudicating an application for a visa, or other immigration status, in order to determine whether the information presented by the applicant is consistent and credible. |
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Previous persecution
Description
"The fact that an applicant has already been subject to persecution or serious harm or to direct threats of such persecution or such harm, is a serious indication of the applicant's well-founded fear of persecution or real risk of suffering serious harm, unless there are good reasons to consider that such persecution or serious harm will not be repeated.” “The concept of previous persecution also deals with the special situation where a person may have been subjected to very serious persecution in the past and will not therefore cease to be a refugee, even if fundamental changes have occurred in his country of origin. It is a general humanitarian principle and is frequently recognized that a person who--or whose family--has suffered under atrocious forms of persecution should not be expected to repatriate. Even though there may have been a change of regime in his country, this may not always produce a complete change in the attitude of the population, nor, in view of his past experiences, in the mind of the refugee." |
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Persecution (acts of)
Description
"Human rights abuses or other serious harm, often, but not always, with a systematic or repetitive element. Per Article 9 of the Qualification Directive, acts of persecution for the purposes of refugee status must: (a) be acts sufficiently serious by their nature or repetition as to constitute a severe violation of basic human rights, in particular the rights from which derogation cannot be made under Article 15(2) of the ECHR; or (b) be an accumulation of various measures, including violations of human rights which is sufficiently severe as to affect an individual in a similar manner as mentioned in (a). This may, inter alia, take the form of: acts of physical or mental violence, including acts of sexual violence; legal, administrative, police and/or judicial measures which are in themselves discriminatory or which are implemented in a discriminatory manner; prosecution or punishment, which is disproportionate or discriminatory; denial of judicial redress resulting in a disproportionate or discriminatory punishment; prosecution or punishment for refusal to perform military service in a conflict, where performing military service would include crimes or acts falling under the exclusion clauses in Article 12(2). " |
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Relevant Documentation
Description
“All documentation at the applicants disposal regarding the applicant's age, background, including that of relevant relatives, identity, nationality(ies), country(ies) and place(s) of previous residence, previous asylum applications, travel routes, identity and travel documents and the reasons for applying for international protection.” |
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Torture
Description
“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him/her or a third person information or a confession, punishing him/her for an act s/he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him/her or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.” |
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Religion
Description
One of the grounds of persecution specified in the refugee definition under Article 1A ofthe1951 Refugee Convention. According to the Qualification Directive, the concept of religion includes in particular the holding of theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, the participation in, or abstention from, formal worship in private or in public, either alone or in community with others, other religious acts or expressions of view, or forms of personal or communal conduct based on or mandated by any religious belief. |
Headnote:
The return of a Pakistani national of the Ahmadiyya religion to Pakistan would violate Article 3. The French authorities had wrongly rejected the Ahmadiyya Applicant’s credibility, which is supported by evidence of prosecution by the Pakistani authorities for blasphemy.
Facts:
The Applicant is a Pakistani national who sought asylum France in August 2009 alleging persecution on the basis of his conversion to the Ahmadiyya religion. Specifically, he claims he was abducted, detained and tortured for several days before escaping. He left Pakistan allegedly to flee an arrest warrant against him for preaching.
The French authorities rejected his asylum application twice, and the national asylum court dismissed his appeal twice, each time on the ground that his statements were insufficiently substantiated. He was detained pending deportation, which has been halted by a Rule 39 Interim Measure from the ECtHR.
He claims before the ECtHR that his removal to Pakistan would place him at risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 ECHR.
Decision & reasoning:
The Court concluded that, in view of the situation of persons belonging to the Ahmadiyya religion, the protection afforded by Article 3 would only be relevant for those who publicly practice that religion and proselytise, as it appears that only they are persecuted in society and by the authorities.
The Court considered that the Applicant’s account is detailed and is sufficiently supported by the documents submitted by him. The French authorities, for their part, had dismissed his credibility without sufficient reasoning. Before the ECtHR, the French Government also did not provide any argumentation that could call the Applicant’s credibility into question.
The documents submitted by the Applicant (an arrest warrant and a report of preliminary investigations against him) show that the authorities knew about his religious activities and that these had prompted prosecution on allegations of blasphemy. Therefore, if he were returned to Pakistan, he would attract the attention of the authorities to his own disadvantage and he would be exposed to a risk of ill-treatment contrary to Article 3.
The Court also ruled that the interim measure granted under Article 39 should remain in force until the judgment is final or until the Court indicates otherwise.
Outcome:
Return to Pakistan would amount to violation of Article 3.
Relevant International and European Legislation:
Cited Cases:
| Cited Cases |
| ECtHR - Bahaddar v The Netherlands (Application no. 25894/94) |
| ECtHR - Collins and Akaziebe v Sweden (Application no. 23944/05) |
| ECtHR - Raninen v Finland (Application no. 20972/92) |
| ECtHR - Sultani v France (Application no. 45223/05) - (UP) |
| ECtHR - NA v UK, Application No. 25904/07 |
| ECtHR - Hirsi Jamaa and Others v Italy [GC], Application No. 27765/09 |
| ECtHR - Kudla v Poland [GC], Application No. 30210/96 |
| ECtHR - N. v Sweden, 20 July 2010, no. 23505/09 |
| ECtHR - Micallef v Malta, Application No. 17.056/06 |
| ECtHR - Klaas v Germany, Application No. 15473/89 |
| ECtHR - Y.P. and L.P. v. France, Application No. 32476/06 |
| ECtHR - Selmouni v. France [GC], Application No. 25803/94 |
| ECtHR - H.R. v France, Application No. 64780/09 |
| ECtHR - Mo P. v. France, Application No. 55787/09 |
| ECtHR - Aquilina v. Malta [GC], Application No. 25642/94 |
| ECtHR - Mi. L. v. France, Application No. 23473/11 |
| UK - Upper Tribunal, 13 November 2012, MN and others (Ahmadis - country requirements - risk) Pakistan CG, [2012] UKUT 00389 (IAC) |
Follower Cases:
| Follower Cases |
| ECtHR - M.V and M.T. v France, Application No. 17897/09 |
| ECtHR- A.A. v. France, Application no. 18039/11, 15 April 2015 |
| ECtHR – R.V. v France, Application No. 78514/14, 7 July 2016 |
Other sources:
- Reports of 23 November 2009 and 11 January 2013 on the situation in Pakistan Muslims who convert to the Ahmadi faith, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada;
- 2013 Reports on ‘International Religious Freedom – Pakistan’ and ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ U.S. State Department