1418139 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa. The applicant, a Shia Muslim of Mohajir ethnicity from Pakistan, claimed he faced a real chance of serious harm or a real risk of significant harm upon return to Pakistan. His claims were based on his religious and political activities, his membership in organisations such as the Imamia Student Organisation (ISO), and his involvement in reciting Marsia Khwa and Noha Khuan. He also asserted that his father's political activities with the Tehreek e Jafaria Pakistan (TJP) and his own status as an educated, Western-returned individual would make him a target.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had established a real chance of suffering serious harm or a real risk of significant harm, as contemplated by the relevant provisions of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and Ministerial Direction No. 56. This required the Tribunal to assess the credibility of the applicant's claims and consider whether he belonged to a particular social group or held an imputed political opinion that would place him at risk. The Tribunal was also required to take into account departmental policy guidelines and country information assessments.

The Tribunal found that the applicant's claims regarding his father's political activities with the TJP, his own membership in the ISO, and his involvement in Marsia Khwa and Noha Khuan were plausible. The delegate had accepted these aspects of the applicant's evidence. However, the Tribunal concluded that the matter should be remitted for reconsideration. This suggests that while some of the applicant's claims were accepted as plausible, the overall assessment of risk or harm, or the application of legal principles to those claims, required further determination.