Ghaffari, Mehdi

Mehdi Ghaffari was convicted in March 2005 of using a false instrument with intent and attempting to obtain services by deception. Mr Ghaffari received a sentence of ten months’ imprisonment.

Mr Ghaffari had been arrested at Heathrow Airport attempting to board a flight to Canada with a false passport. The offences were committed by Mr Ghaffari in circumstances relating to his quest for asylum.

Section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 provided a special statutory defence to certain offences associated with immigration, such as the use of a false passport.

The defence applied to a person who had “come to the United Kingdom directly from a country where his life or freedom was threatened (within the meaning of the Refugee Convention)”.

Mr Ghaffari pleaded guilty at Magistrates’ Court, being unaware that this special defence was available to him.

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

Following review, the CCRC concluded that because Mr Ghaffari had a statutory defence to the charge of using a false instrument that was likely to have succeeded, there was a real possibility the Crown Court would vacate his guilty plea and would in all the circumstances not uphold the conviction.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2013.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in June 2013.