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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> TK (Article 3, Blind Person, KAA, Prison Condition) Iraq CG [2002] UKIAT 03576 (8 August 2002) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2002/03576.html Cite as: [2002] UKIAT 03576, [2002] UKIAT 3576 |
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TK (Article 3- Blind Person – KAA-Prison Condition)
Iraq
CG [2002] UKIAT 03576
Date of hearing: 10 May 2002
Date Determination notified: 8 August 2002
| TK | APPELLANT |
| and | |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department | RESPONDENT |
Iraq
from the Kurdish Autonomous Area, born on 10 May 1966. He arrived in the United Kingdom, apparently via the Channel Tunnel at Dover, on 10 August 2001. He claimed asylum the following day. He was without documentation and said he had travelled from Turkey.
"Mr Kadir is from Sulaymania in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Northern
Iraq
. He left his country because of the fear of harm and persecution from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who controlled the area where he lived. In his legal and SEF interviews he recounted the events that made him flee his country.
Our client was self-employed as a scrap metal dealer in Sulaymania. He owned a small shop where he bought scrap metal and melted it to make cooking utensils for sale. Sometime in 1997, officials of the PUK raided his shop, seized all his machines and charged him for operating illegally and for not paying tax. Our client had ostensibly not sought permission from the PUK to build and operate such machinery. Mr Kadir was not aware that the machines he operated were illegal. Neither was he aware that he was liable to pay tax. He was fined 100,000 Iraqi dinars by the PUK and given four weeks to pay this. Mr Kadir could not afford to pay what was to him an extortionate sum. Besides, even if he could pay the amount, he had no avenue to generate income since his machines had been seized by the PUK.
Mr Kadir failed to pay the fine and a warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest. Due a (sic) fear of reprisals from the PUK including possible imprisonment and execution, our client decided to leave the country. Consequently he fled
Iraq
for Turkey where he has resided illegally since 1997. However, a recent decision by the Turkish government to deport all illegal immigrants to their country of origin compelled him to leave Turkey."
Iraq
. The Adjudicator considered the documentary evidence but he was unable to discern anything which dealt specifically with prison conditions in the Kurdish Autonomous Area. He expressed his conclusions at paragraph 16 of his determination as follows:
"I therefore decide that the clear weight of evidence before me in this case leads me inexorably to the conclusion that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of imprisonment and that the prison conditions in the KAA would constitute treatment in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. The internal flight alternative has really grown up in the asylum context - but in any event I would make it clear that in the circumstances of the KAA that it would be unduly harsh to expect relocation to an area controlled by the rival KDP."
Iraq
. The Adjudicator had wrongly relied on Mr Kadir's own evidence of conditions when he had been imprisoned for a month in 1983. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs official general report on Northern
Iraq
dated April 2000 states:
"Conditions in prisons in Northern
Iraq
do not meet international requirements as laid down in 1955 in the United Nations' minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners. Human rights violations do occur upon arrest and during detention. Conditions of hygiene in the prisons leave much to be desired.
Otherwise the situation in the prisons has improved over the last two years, owing also to the intervention of the ICRC. The International Red Cross (ICRC) is able to visit all prisons in both the PUK and the KDP areas. At the beginning of 2000, the ICRC was able to visit about 500 prisons on a regular basis. The Northern Iraqi Authorities are co-operating constructively with the Red Cross which, for example, organises workshops to improve the quality of prison life or provides lectures on basic rules of conduct for Peshmergas during military actions. At the request of detainees, the ICRC can issue statements of proof of their detention. Such statements contain, inter alia, dates of visits by ICRC staff and of release. The ICRC issues such cards only to Peshmergas and other detainees for whom the ICRC considers that there are particular grounds for protection. 'Ordinary' criminals are not included in this category.
Visiting arrangements differ from one prison to another in Northern
Iraq
. The usual frequency of visits is once a week. Visitors may bring in food, although the prison provides the necessary basic nutrition. Visits are not possible as long as criminal investigations into detainees are still in progress.
As far as is known, there is no question of forced or voluntary labour in the prisons. In some prisons, the possibility is said to exist of carrying out manual labour, etc. As far as we know, there are no arrangements for home leave. The western concept of rehabilitation is unknown in Northern
Iraq."