AM v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, AM, is a citizen of Iran born in 2005 who applied on 15 September 2024 for protection and on human rights grounds. The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused those claims by a decision dated 17 January 2025, and he appealed to the First-tier Tribunal under section 82(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. His protection claim rested on two limbs: events in Iran, where he said the authorities raided the tea house at which he worked, found material supporting the Komala party among his belongings, and then visited his home looking for him, prompting his flight with the help of an agent; and sur place activity in the United Kingdom by way of Facebook posts and attendance at demonstrations. The convention reason relied on was imputed political opinion, and it was accepted that the Convention was engaged. Before the Tribunal the respondent did not rely on state protection or internal relocation, and accepted that the appeal would succeed on convention grounds if the account of events in Iran was credible; the respondent did, however, rely on section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 because the appellant had failed to claim asylum when fingerprinted in Croatia. An application to add a protection claim based on indiscriminate violence, and the Article 8 claim, were not pursued. The appellant gave evidence in Kurdish Sorani through an interpreter.