Man with alleged links to terrorism loses deportation case

A man with alleged links to Islamist terrorism has lost a High Court challenge aimed at stopping his deportation from the State.

A stay preventing the deportation applies and his lawyers can seek permission to appeal against the judgment. The case will return before the court next week.

The man, who is in his 50s and has been living in Ireland for several years, had claimed that due to his political views, he was at serious risk of ill treatment and torture if deported to his native country.

The Minister for Justice issued the deportation order after gardaí told the Department of Justice that the activities of the man and his associates were of “serious concern” and “contrary to the State’s security”.

The man had been convicted of terrorism offences in another European country and in his native country.

In his proceedings, the man, who cannot be identified, denied he was involved in terrorism and said the Minister’s decision was unlawful.

Represented by Michael Lynn SC he claimed his exclusion from the State would breach EU law and article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Serious harm

The Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which considered his application for subsidiary protection, found he would be at risk of serious harm or torture if returned to his native country, it was argued.

The Minister, represented by Remy Farrell SC and Sinead McGrath, said she was entitled to deport the man.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys said the Minister lawfully decided there were no substantial grounds to find the man would be at real risk of ill treatment if deported to his home country.

The man was convicted in his native country during the 1990s and given three life sentences and two death sentences, which are no longer carried out. The offences included forming an armed terrorist group intending to spread murder, sabotage, possession of prohibited war weapons, assassination, theft and intending to harm the security of his home country.

He was also convicted and jailed for eight years in a European country after being arrested in 2002. He was found guilty of charges including membership of a criminal organisation preparing an act of terrorism in Ireland, France, UK, Spain and Andorra between 1997 and 2002. He was also convicted of using false documents, receiving stolen goods and illegally entering the country.

Refugee status

Following expiry of his sentence, he was deported back to Ireland where he was granted asylum in 2000. The man “falsely stated”, as part of his asylum application, that members of his family had been killed by extremists, a sibling had been arrested and he had been shot by government forces in his native country, the judge said.

Following his return here, his refugee status was revoked in 2011. He is currently serving a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to having fraudulently obtained travel documentation which he had presented when he attempted to board a flight to Greece.

The Minister had assessed all the individual circumstances of the man, including country-of-origin material which showed a general improvement in his native country, the judge said.

All matters had been fully considered by the Minister, including the man’s general lack of credibility and the fact that one of his brothers, who had also been convicted of terrorist offences, was not being ill treated in their home country.

The man’s credibility was seriously impaired by his multiple identities, criminal history and fraudulent previous asylum applications, the judge said.