AS v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, AS, is a Somali national. The Secretary of State accepted his identity and nationality. On his account, he left Somalia with his family as an infant and travelled via Yemen to Saudi Arabia. The family returned to Mogadishu after being deported from Saudi Arabia, and he later went to Yemen before being smuggled into Sweden. His asylum claim there was dismissed, and his family, including his wife and children, remain in Sweden. On 1 January 2023 he made protection and human rights claims in the United Kingdom. He said he feared forced recruitment by Al-Shabab on return, relying on the Convention ground of imputed political opinion, and that his lack of support in Somalia and his long absence would leave him destitute. The Secretary of State refused the claims on 31 May 2024. She accepted that he had left Somalia with his family in or around 2009 because of the conflict, but rejected his account of Al-Shabab's interest and maintained that sufficient protection and internal relocation would in any event be available. He appealed under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and appeared unrepresented at Taylor House, giving evidence through an interpreter. Documents from Sweden said to show the outcome of his asylum claim there had not been translated, and the judge explained at the outset that no weight could be attached to them.