May 26, 2018
An Iranian man whose bid to stay in Australia was denied because authorities did not believe he had genuinely converted to Christianity has lost his High Court fight against the decision.
A key piece of evidence used to make the decision was that the man’s church attendance had dropped off in recent years.
However, the man may remain in Australia to appeal the decision on other grounds.
The man was challenging the fast-track visa process set up to clear the backlog of applicants who arrived in Australia by boat between August 2012 and January 2014.
The man had arrived by boat, and argued he should not be sent back to Iran because he would be persecuted for converting to Christianity.
His case was reviewed by the Immigration Assessment Authority, which denied his application. Key to the case was evidence from the man’s minister, who sent a letter confirming that the Iranian had attended his Melbourne church.
But in a follow-up phone call with the government official assessing the case, the minister said the Iranian’s attendance had dropped off significantly over the previous two years.
The official later made the decision to deny the man the right to stay in Australia, on the grounds his conversion to Christianity was not genuine.
The man was never given details of the phone call, or given the chance to respond to them. His lawyers argued the man had been treated unfairly because he was not given an opportunity to contest the information used to make the decision.
However, the High Court found the authority had exercised its discretion appropriately, and dismissed the Iranian’s appeal.
