Bashir, Yasin

Yasin Bashir was convicted in January 2008 of possession of a false identity document and received a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment.

Mr Bashir, a Somali national, was arrested after arriving at Gatwick Airport from Greece with a false passport. Mr Bashir claimed he was seeking asylum. He admitted that the passport was not his and he later pleaded guilty to an offence under the Identity Cards Act 2006.

In June 2008, the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal found Mr Bashir to be entitled to international protection as a refugee and that if he returned to Somalia he would attract adverse attention. In July 2008, he was granted asylum with leave to remain in the UK until July 2013.

The CCRC received an application for review of the conviction in April 2012.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that Mr Bashir had a statutory defence available to him under section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, namely a “reasonable excuse” for not producing a genuine immigration document.

Somalia had not had a passport issuing authority since 1991 and the UK Government had not, in any event, recognised Somali passports since 2003.

The legal advice provided to Mr Bashir deprived him of an available defence.

On the evidence now available it was probable that the defence would have succeeded and, as a result, there was a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would set aside Mr Bashir’s guilty plea and conclude that in all the circumstances it should not uphold the conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2013.

The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in July 2013.