SA v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, SA, is a citizen of Iraq of Kurdish ethnicity, whose Kurdish ethnicity and nationality the respondent accepted. He applied for leave to remain on 19 October 2024, claiming protection on the basis that he had converted from Islam to Christianity and was at risk from his family, who had discovered the conversion. The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused that application by a decision dated 19 July 2025, and the appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal on protection and human rights grounds. The respondent accepted in the decision letter that there was a Convention reason — the appellant's religion — and that, if his account were accepted, there would be no sufficiency of protection and no internal relocation option; the respondent also concluded that the appellant's failure to claim asylum on his journey did not damage his credibility. What remained in dispute was whether the appellant had genuinely converted and whether his family had discovered it. The appeal was heard at Columbus House on 09 September 2026 as a hybrid hearing, with a Kurdish Sorani interpreter attending by video. The appellant gave oral evidence and was cross-examined; the Senior Minister of his church did not attend, and no adjournment was sought. The appellant did not pursue any Article 3 medical claim or any Article 8 claim.