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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Taher, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 2274 (Admin) (31 August 2018) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2018/2274.html Cite as: [2018] EWHC 2274 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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THE QUEEN on the application of ABDI OMER TAHER |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT |
Defendant |
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Sarabjit Singh QC and Jo Moore (instructed by the Government Legal Department) for the Defendant
Hearing date: 24 July 2018
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Crown Copyright ©
Mrs Justice Lang :
Legal framework
"…..every person born within the United Kingdom and Colonies after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth."
The term "citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" is commonly abbreviated to "CUKC".
"Except as provided by the following provisions of this Schedule, any person who, on such date as may be specified in an order made by the Secretary of State -
(a) in consequence of his connection with a territory designated by the order, possesses any such nationality or citizenship as may be specified by the order, whether he acquired that nationality or citizenship before that date or acquires it on that date, and
(b) immediately before that date is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies,
shall on that date cease to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies."
"For the purposes of paragraph 1 of the schedule to the Aden, Perim and Kuria Muria Islands Act 1967 (which provides, subject to exceptions, for the loss, on such date as may be specified by order, of citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by a person possessing on that date such nationality or citizenship as is so specified by reason of his connection with a territory designated by the order) -
(a) the People's Republic of Southern Yemen shall be a designated territory;
(b) in relation thereto the specified nationality shall be Southern Yemeni nationality, and;
(c) in relation thereto the specified date shall be 14th August 1968."
"The following expressions in this law shall have the following meanings...
(b) 'Republic': the People's Republic of Southern Yemen...
(e) 'Arab': any person belonging to the Arab nation and holding the nationality of any Arab state."
"The following shall be considered Southern Yemeni by birth...
(b) any Arab born in the Republic, provided that one or both of his parents has resided in the Republic for at least five years."
"31. What is striking about the present case is that, if the appellant could establish the facts as he alleges them to be, he would have a legal right to be a British citizen. The statutory provisions to which I have earlier referred confer on such a person the status of a British citizen automatically. There is no discretion vested in the Secretary of State. One notes a sharp contrast between those provisions, especially section 11(1) of the 1981 Act, and others in the same Act dealing with applications for naturalisation and registration as a British citizen, such as section 6(1) and section 6(2). In both the latter cases the statute requires the Secretary of State "to be satisfied" of certain matters before he may "if he thinks fit" grant a certificate of naturalisation. In those circumstances, the Secretary of State is in the position of making a decision or a determination. Yet the legislation confers no jurisdiction on the Secretary of State to determine in any authoritative way whether a person is a British citizen by virtue of section 11(1). He is simply not empowered to decide that issue. Nor is there any mechanism or process laid down by statute or regulation whereby he decides whether a person is entitled as of legal right to British citizenship under the 1981 Act. That is perhaps not surprising, because one is here dealing with whether or not that person has a legal right. The contrast is with such processes as registration or naturalisation, where the Secretary of State is empowered by section 41(1)(b) to make provision by means of regulations.
…..
33. Of course, the Secretary of State is very much involved in related matters, such as the issue of passports; and for that reason, as well as for obvious practical ones, it is sensible for any person asserting that he is entitled to the status of a British citizen to raise the matter first with the Home Office. But even on a passport application, the issue of whether a person is a British citizen is a matter of precedent fact where the courts, if there is a dispute, would be prepared to make a decision on the merits.
34. If, therefore, there is a dispute as to whether a person has the legal right under the 1981 Act to the status of a British citizen, that dispute is something which can be resolved in the courts. Such a person can bring proceedings for a declaration that he is entitled as of right under that Act to British citizenship… In determining that matter the court will itself resolve any issues of fact as well as any issues of law. This is not, in truth, judicial review of a decision taken by any administrative body or person, but the more conventional resolution of a dispute with which the courts are very familiar. That being so, the court would not afford to the Secretary of State any margin of appreciation or degree of deference where the resolution of issues of fact is concerned. It will find the facts for itself according to the evidence before it."
The Defendant's guidance
"Detailed Guidance – Evidence
5.9 When considering an application for a BOC passport from an applicant with connection to Yemen, examiners need to assess whether the applicant became Yemeni on the basis of his own and his parent's place of birth. If the applicant is of Somali or South Asian descent, examiners should not now assume that the person became Yemeni automatically on independence. However, they should expect to see contemporaneous (documentary) evidence of the parent's birth in Somalia – normally the birth certificate or passport. Examiners should also request to see evidence of the parents' marriage. In general, the following should be requested when considering BOC applications with connection to South Yemen (colony of Aden):
- An original birth certificate indicating that the applicant was born in Yemen, preferably with the contemporaneous official translation;
- A passport for the father, if the applicant's birth certificate does not state his place of birth. If the applicant's father is born in Yemen, we need proof that they did not become Yemeni on independence, such as naturalisation certificate or a Somali passport issued after independence.
- A range of identity documents for the applicant from different years (preferably different decades) to demonstrate that they are the person that the birth certificate relates to.
5.10 In addition to the documents, examiners should look for consistency of name, date and place of birth in the documents provided. Examiners should also look for a range of photographic identity documents from different times that would give added confident about the identity of the person applying for the passport."
The Defendant's decision
"To satisfy identity we need to be able to assess how your client is seeking to prove that she [sic] is the holder of the claimed identity. This would normally be via contemporaneous documentary evidence confirming a person's name, place and date of birth, their parent's names, place and dates of birth and we also need to be satisfied with the relationship as claimed to the stated parents.
Your client has provided various documents to support his application however he has failed to provide the following:
- His original Yemen full birth certificate
- His father's full birth certificate
- His mother's full birth certificate
- His parents' marriage certificate
- His father's passport held at the time of conception
- His mother's passport held at the time of conception and at the point of entry into Aden from Somalia
…
To satisfy nationality we need to be able to assess how your client is seeking to prove that he is a British Overseas Citizen. Under the British Nationality acts this would normally be via a person's place and date of birth, their parent's place and dates of birth and we also need to be satisfied with the relationship as claimed to the stated parents.
Your client submitted 4 Somali passports for consideration however his identity is not consistent across these documents:
- Somail [sic] passport no. 27008/3 shows Abdi Omer TAHER born 27/09/1947
- Somali passport no. 348633 shows Abdi Omer TAHER born 27/09/1949, year of birth has been amended with an official stamp
- Somali passport no. A0005282 shows Abdi Omar TAHER born 27/09/1949 with unofficial amendments to the second forename and the year of birth
- Somali passport A0941088 shows Abdi Omer TAHER born 27/09/1949 with an unofficial amendment to the second forename
In addition, your client's parents in these documents are not consistent as father is shown as Omer TAHER and Omar TAHIR and mother is shown as Fatimo Osman EGEH and Fatima OSMAN.
Your client has submitted a death certificate in respect of his mother, this document shows a different name again as mother is noted as Fadumo Osman IGE.
I note in your letter dated 08/07/2013 you confirm your client changed his date of birth for employment purposes and this is backed up by a statement your client made on 04/07/2013. However, without sight of your client's original birth certificate this cannot be considered for passport purposes. It is also noted that your client continues to use the date of birth 27/09/1949 as all of your client's current identity documents show this date.
In view of the above I am not satisfied with your client's identity, his parent's identity nor has your client provided HMPO with any identity documents in relation to his parents to support the relationship as claimed.
Finally, as your client was born in Aden in 1947, confirming at HMPO interview on 7th June 2015 he resided there until he was 37 years old, was educated, employed, married, raised a family in Yemen and speaks Arabic it would appear that your client became a citizen of Yemen as an assimilated Arab and therefore lost his entitlement to British Nationality.
In light of your client's failure to provide the documentation as I have listed, the discrepancies across his/his parents identities and no evidence to prove he did not become a Yemen citizen his application has been refused."
Evidence and findings
Expert evidence
"Whereas in English it is customary to stick to one spelling of a name, in Somali this is not necessarily the case. My own name, Martin, is spelt by some people with a 'y': Martyn. Given consistency of spelling in the UK I would never write my name with a 'y' and for official purposes such consistency is well established…. This is not to say they are not the same name though. When spoken, there is no difference in pronunciation and the etymology of the name, whether written with 'i' or 'y' is the same. They are two ways of spelling the same name. Consistency of spelling is not something which has permeated Somali writing and written culture generally. The added complications of Anglicizing Somali-written names, the Romanization of Arabic names, Romanising the spelling of the name in an Arabic-speaking country, etc. can all lead to inconsistent spelling of Anglicizations."
"The lack of importance of birthdays and dates of birth to most Somalis.
7. Dates of birth are usually not registered in Somali culture. Before the advent of colonialism and also during the colonial period, Somalis, most of whom reside in the countryside, were born "under the tree". There was no citizen registry covering the population. This only gradually changed in the postcolonial period. Most Somalis were still born without official registration. But when they applied for a passport, a birth date was fixed in the document. However, this date represented an approximation of a person's age. Unusually, the 1 of January was taken as date and month; the year indicated roughly the age of the person. Somalis normally would reckon birth dates according to certain specific phenomena that occurred around their birth. Older people I interviewed myself in northern Somalia for instanced mentioned that they were born around 'the time of the measles' or around the time of a certain drought. Through oral history research, one could find out when, approximately, this would have been. Or people would say 'I was born in the year when Somalia became independent' (i.e., 1960).
8. More recently, since the 1980s, many people would at least know the year in which they were born. One reason was that many Somalis had moved to urban settlements in the post-colonial period, received formal education and began to note down important events in books. Therefore, educated parents would note the year in which a child was born. But confusion about this matter has again increased with the outbreak of civil war in the late 1980s. Private property was destroyed, books and files were lost. Families were dispersed, and often the father or the mother was killed, died of a disease or fled and the children were left on their own or with relatives. During my research in northern Somalia from 2002 onward, I met many young Somalis who had only a vague idea about the year in which they were born. A year or two difference were considered normal (e.g.: 'I was born 1982 or 1983…).
9. Birthdays play, according to my insights, no important role in Somali society up until today. Birthdays are not celebrated. And if officials need to register a person with a concrete birthday, a date is given by many people which often is but a rough estimation (as outlined above). Of course, if a person knows his/her exact birthday since the parents had noted it and the notes were preserved, this correct date is given. Beyond that, birthdays play no role in Somali society."
The Claimant's birth certificate
The Claimant's passports and other evidence
"4. In 1990, when the Somali Embassy started issuing green passports, I decided to change my date of birth and make myself two years younger. My reason for changing my date of birth was for work purposes. I was a clerk at that time and I was told that my chance of promotion to a customs officer would be better if I was a little younger.
5. When I went to the Somali Embassy to change the year of birth, they told me that I needed to change the passport (348633) to match the date I wanted in the newer green one."
"…It is not common for Somali persons, who are living in the United Arab Emirates, or even indeed elsewhere in the Gulf, to have to give a date of birth which allows them to retire at a later point. The reason for this is that there is no pension scheme for expats in the UAE. After retirement, an expat either has to leave the UAE or be sponsored by another relative. We have no means of support after retirement apart from our end of service benefit, which is a lump sum based on the number of years a person has worked and his/her final salary. This means that for an expat from an unstable country, such as Somalia and Yemen, it is preferable to try to work for as long as possible…"
The Claimant's parents
The Claimant's siblings
Conclusions
"32. Where the appellant has given a totally incredible account of the relevant facts, the tribunal must decide what weight to give to the lie, as well as to all the other evidence in the case, including the general evidence. Suppose, for example, that at the interview stage the appellant made an admission which, if true, would destroy his claim; and at the hearing before the AIT he withdraws the admission, saying that his answer at interview was wrongly recorded or that he misunderstood what he was being asked. If the AIT concludes that his evidence at the hearing on this point is dishonest, it is likely that his lies will assume great importance. They will almost certainly lead the tribunal to find that his original answers were true and dismiss his appeal. In other cases, the significance of an appellant's dishonest testimony may be less clear-cut. The AIT in the present case was rightly alive to the danger of falling into the trap of dismissing an appeal merely because the appellant had told lies. The dangers of that trap are well understood by judges who preside over criminal trials before juries. People lie for many reasons. In R v Lucas [1981] QB 720, the Court of Appeal had to consider whether a statement containing a lie was capable of amounting to corroboration. At p 724F, Lord Lane CJ said:
"To be capable of amounting to corroboration the lie told out of court must first of all be deliberate. Secondly, it must relate to a material issue. Thirdly, the motive for the lie must be a realisation of guilt and fear of the truth. The jury should in appropriate cases be reminded that people sometimes lie, for example, in an attempt to bolster up a just cause, or out of shame or out of a wish to conceal disgraceful behaviour from their family…"
33. Although the analogy is not exact, it is close enough for these words to be of relevance in the present context. So the significance of lies will vary from case to case. In some cases, the AIT may conclude that a lie is of no great consequence. In other cases, where the appellant tells lies on a central issue in the case, the AIT may conclude that they are of great significance. MA's appeal was such a case. The central issue was whether MA had close connections with powerful actors in Mogadishu. The AIT found that he had not told the truth about his links with Mogadishu. It is in such a case that the general evidence about the country may become particularly important. It will be a matter for the AIT to decide whether the general evidence is sufficiently strong to counteract what we have called the negative pull of the appellant's lies."
Note 1 The 2013 Guidance has now been replaced by revised Guidance issued in April 2018. [Back]