Because there is no real risk of serious harm to the appellant in the KRG, it is not necessary for us to deal with internal relocation, whether in or out of the KRG.
As to the appellant personally, we acknowledge that he was the subject of persecution in the past in the KRG. That was in 2001, six years ago. In the context of the recent history of Iraq that is a long time. Of course, we acknowledge that evidence of past persecution can be indicative of a real risk of future persecution. However, Iraq has changed considerably and that applies as much to the Kurdish Regional Governorates as it does to the rest of Iraq. For the reasons we have given there is no satisfactory evidence that the risks to which the appellant was exposed in 2001 are continuing, or have existed for some time. The fact that the appellant was persecuted in the past does not help him.
The Court of Appeal found that the Immigration Judge had made a material error of law in his assessment of the risk to the appellant from IMIK. It therefore fell upon us to reconsider that aspect of the appeal. We have given the reasons why we have limited our reconsideration to that issue. Having reconsidered the appeal the following decision is substituted:
The appellant is not entitled to humanitarian protection.
Signed Date
Senior Immigration Judge Mather
Case Law
SM and Others (Kurds – protection – relocation) Iraq CG [2005] UKIAT 00111
AM (WCPI – conditions in Mosul) Iraq CG [2004] UKIAT 00263
GH (Former KAZ – country conditions – effect) Iraq CG [2004] UKIAT 00248
AH (Scope of s.103A reconsideration) Sudan [2006] UKAIT 00038
DK (Serbia) and Others [2006] EWCA Civ 1747
HA (Iraq) [2006] EWCA Civ 1373
Evidence
Workers Communist Party of Iraq, Article 'A plot by the Islamic Republic of Iran etc.' 2 February 2005
Amnesty International (Middle East and North Africa: Iraq) Report 2006
Workers Liberty article 'Revival in Iraqi Kurdistan' ; 24 June 2006
Workers Communist Party of Iraq: Organisation of Australia. Article on the death of the editor of Ferat Arabic Daily; 18 January 2007
Human Rights Watch Country Summary of Iraq; January 2007
US State Department Report Iraq; 6 March 2007
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) 'Guidelines on the treatment of Iraqi
Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe'; April 2007
Country of Origin Information Service Report – Iraq; 30 April 2007
Expert report Dr R. Fatah; 25 May 2007
Chatham House Middle East Programme Briefing Paper 'Accepting the realities in Iraq'; May 2007
Kurdish Referendum Movement Committee Membership List and Constitution
KRM articles (written by Dr Fatah) –
The Case for a Kurdish State: Kurds Aspiration as a Kurdish State; 6.5.03
'British Empire carved Kurdistan, the American Superpower tries to dissolve it'; 15.1.04
'The First Session of the Iraq Transitional Council breaches the transitional law of administration' ; 9.9.04
'New Kurdish Strategy Needed' 13.4.06
'Attacks on KurdishMedia.com prove the power of words'; 24.4.07