BS v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, B S, is a national of Afghanistan who claimed international protection in the United Kingdom. His account was that in 2020 a contract was concluded between his business partner and the Chief of the Logar Provincial Police, under which their business supplied food and other provisions to that police force. He said that in early 2021 he received a letter from the Taliban threatening to kill him if he continued to supply goods to the police, and that his business partner received a similar letter, but that they carried on supplying the force. Some eight to ten days after the first letter, he said, his business partner was killed by the Taliban outside his home, and a second letter followed which repeated the threat and claimed responsibility for the killing. He then left Pol-e Alam for Nimroz, where he stayed for about two months, before travelling on, passing through Italy and France without claiming asylum, to the United Kingdom. The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused his claim by a decision of 30 May 2025. He lodged his appeal to the First-tier Tribunal on 9 June 2025 but thereafter took no further part in the proceedings, filing no evidence beyond the appeal form and not attending the hearing at Newport.