Mr FA

Mr FA, an Iraqi national, arrived at Heathrow Airport in October 2007. He admitted to an immigration official that he did not have a passport and claimed asylum on the basis he had been kidnapped, tortured and feared for his life in Iraq.

Mr FA stated that he had left Iraq in September 2007, travelled from there to Syria and then on to Turkey before flying to the UK. He said that an agent he paid to help him flee from Iraq had taken away his Iraqi passport.

Mr FA was arrested and charged with failure to produce a satisfactory immigration document contrary to section 2(1) Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004.

Later in September, Mr FA appeared at Isleworth Crown Court where, after initially pleading not guilty, he pleaded guilty on advice from his solicitor. He was convicted and sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for one year.

In January 2008 the Home Office granted Mr FA Humanitarian Protection with five years’ leave to remain in the UK on the basis that he faced a real risk of suffering serious harm if he was returned to Iraq.

He applied to the CCRC for a review of his case in December 2012.

Following review, the CCRC concluded that Mr FA had a statutory defence to the charge on which he was convicted available to him under section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004, namely a “reasonable excuse” for not producing a genuine immigration document.

The legal advice provided to Mr FA deprived him of that available defence.

On the evidence 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 FA’s guilty plea and conclude that in all the circumstances it should not uphold the conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in September 2015.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in February 2016.