Case summaries
It does not follow from any of the provisions of the Asylum Act or the Administrative Procedure Code that the Respondent must deliver a decision to an asylum applicant in his or her mother tongue or a language that he or she understands.
(1) be new, i.e. not have been subject to examination in an earlier procedure;
This case concerned the right to apply for asylum and seek an effective judicial remedy where the applicants had not reached Spanish territory (by land or sea). The Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR) lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court against a decision of the High National Court. CEAR alleged that the applicants’ right to seek asylum and the right to effective judicial protection had been violated. The Supreme Court held that the applicants could not exercise those rights as they had not arrived on Spanish territory.
The applicant, being in a religiously mixed marriage, can be considered as a person having a justified fear of being persecuted for religious reasons. In accordance with the Qualification Directive, the deciding authority is obliged to gather sufficient information on the accessibility and effectiveness of protection provided by state authorities in the country of origin.
Art 10.1 (b) of the Qualification Directive guarantees wide reaching protection of the freedom of religion. However, merely belonging to the Ahmadiyya religious community does not justify the granting of refugee status.