Iraqi Christian convert succeeds in asylum appeal in SA v Home Secretary

The First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has allowed an asylum appeal brought by an Iraqi national of Kurdish ethnicity who claimed to fear persecution after converting to Christianity, a conversion his family are said to have discovered.

In SA v Secretary of State for the Home Department (PA/77856/2025), heard at Columbus House on 9 September 2026, First-tier Tribunal Judge Webb allowed the appeal on asylum and human rights (Article 3 ECHR) grounds, while dismissing the claim for humanitarian protection as a consequence of the appellant's refugee status being established.

The appellant, referred to only as SA under an anonymity order, had challenged the Secretary of State's decision of 19 July 2025 refusing his application for leave to remain. He gave evidence through a Kurdish Sorani interpreter, with no difficulties in communication noted by the tribunal.

A preliminary issue arose when the senior minister of the appellant's church was unable to attend to give live evidence in person, owing to a prior commitment he could not rearrange. Counsel for the appellant, Miss L Franchina, confirmed that the significance of this absence for the weight of the witness's evidence had been explained to the appellant, and no adjournment was sought.

The respondent, represented by Mr J Longman, accepted that the appellant was a Kurdish Iraqi national and that religion constituted a valid Convention reason, but disputed both the genuineness of the claimed conversion and whether it had come to his family's attention. Notably, the Secretary of State conceded that if the appellant's account were accepted, he would face a real risk of persecution on return to Iraq, with no sufficiency of protection or internal relocation option available.

Judge Webb found the appellant's evidence across his screening interview, two asylum interviews and oral testimony to be clear, sufficiently detailed and broadly consistent, and consistent with relevant country background information. Weight was placed on documentary evidence including letters confirming continued church attendance in the United Kingdom and photographs said to show the appellant's baptism, obtained from his social media account after arrival. While the tribunal noted these letters carried limited weight given the authors' non-attendance at the hearing, it accepted the appellant's explanation for a discrepancy in one letter as an authorial error rather than a credibility concern.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's argument that the absence of evidence of communication with a contact in Iraq undermined the appellant's account, characterising this as a peripheral matter. It also dismissed submissions that the appellant's explanation of how his father discovered the conversion, involving the appellant's use of two mobile telephones, was implausible, finding the account detailed and credible.

Applying the structured approach to credibility set out in KB & AH (credibility-structured approach) Pakistan [2017] UKUT 00491 (IAC) and the two-stage test required under section 32 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, as clarified in JCK (s.32 NABA 2022) Botswana [2024] UKUT 00100, Judge Webb concluded that the appellant had shown, on the balance of probabilities, a genuine conversion from Islam to Christianity discovered by his family, and, applying the lower standard, a well-founded fear of persecution on return to Iraq.

The anonymity order made under rule 13(1)(b) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Rules 2014 remains in force pending any onward appeal. No fee award was made, as no fee was paid or payable.