MH v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, MH, is a 28-year-old citizen of Namibia who made a protection claim on 23 March 2023. The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused that claim by a decision dated 2 December 2024, and he appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. His case was that he would be at risk of death or serious harm at the hands of his uncle on return to Namibia, both because he is bisexual and because he had refused to marry his uncle's daughter, his cousin. The Secretary of State accepted his identity, nationality and sexuality, accepted that as a bisexual man in Namibia he is a member of a particular social group so that the Refugee Convention is engaged, and accepted his account of the difficulties with his uncle over the rejected marriage proposal. What remained in dispute was whether either matter placed him at risk on return, whether there was sufficiency of protection or an internal relocation option, and whether removal would breach Article 8 by reference to his claimed partner and child in the United Kingdom. He appeared unrepresented at a hearing at Newport on 2 September 2026, gave oral evidence and was cross-examined.