YR v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, YR, is a citizen of Afghanistan who entered the United Kingdom in October 2024 and made an application for leave to remain on 13 October 2024. He claimed to be at risk from the Taliban because his brother had worked for the Afghan army, or alternatively because his brother had reported Taliban activity — vehicles containing weapons — to the police before the regime change. He said his brother had been killed and that a grenade had been thrown at the family home in May 2025. He further claimed that there would be very significant obstacles to his reintegration into Afghanistan, or that removal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences, and pursued the appeal on private life grounds. The Secretary of State refused the application by a decision dated 15 August 2025, and the appellant appealed to the First-tier Tribunal on protection and human rights grounds. The Secretary of State accepted that a Refugee Convention reason — imputed political opinion — applied, and conceded that if the account were accepted there would be neither sufficiency of protection nor an internal relocation option. Neither party appeared at the hearing at Columbus House: the appellant's former representatives had come off the record on 22 August 2026, having been unable to contact him since January 2026, and counsel instructed for the Secretary of State had withdrawn. The judge proceeded in the absence of both parties.