ZT v The Entry Clearance Officer

Facts

The appellant, ZT, an Ethiopian national of Tigrayan ethnicity, appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) against the Entry Clearance Officer's decision of 28 December 2024 refusing his protection and human rights claims. His case was that his father had been an active member of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front ("TPLF") and had been shot and killed in 2019; that he himself joined the TPLF in 2016 and left in 2020 when asked to campaign among the youth to take up arms, which he refused; that he helped found an anti-conflict committee opposing the use of violence; and that government forces had sought to conscript him into the federal troops. He said he was consequently at risk both from the TPLF and from the state authorities, and that his illegal exit added to that risk. He also claimed to have been detained, held for ransom and tortured in Libya on his journey, travelling on through Italy and France without claiming asylum before reaching the United Kingdom. The respondent conceded that the claim, taken at its highest, engaged the Refugee Convention on grounds of political opinion and race, and conceded the appellant's identity, nationality and Tigrayan ethnicity, and that if his account were accepted in its entirety there would be no sufficiency of protection and no internal relocation option. The appeal was heard at Birmingham on 9 September 2026.