1821072 (Refugee)

The applicant, a national of Sierra Leone, sought a protection visa, claiming he feared harm upon return due to his political activities. He alleged he was a member of a group that campaigned for the All People’s Congress (APC) party against the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), which subsequently won the 2018 election. The applicant claimed that SLPP members and gangs had violently attacked members of his group, including a friend who was allegedly killed, and that he himself had received threats. He further asserted that the police were unable to protect him due to the SLPP's influence. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal was tasked with reviewing the delegate's decision to refuse the protection visa.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had established a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of his political opinion, and whether he faced a real risk of significant harm if returned to Sierra Leone. This required the Tribunal to assess the credibility of the applicant's claims, evaluate the supporting evidence provided, and consider independent country information regarding the political situation and safety in Sierra Leone following the 2018 election. Specifically, the Tribunal had to determine if ordinary APC supporters or campaigners were being targeted for harm, and if the applicant's specific role and profile made him a likely target.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the protection visa. It found inconsistencies, exaggerations, and misconstrued claims within the applicant's evidence regarding his activities and profile. While acknowledging the applicant's support for the APC and his involvement in campaign activities, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the incidents described demonstrated ongoing acts of serious harm against ordinary APC supporters. The photographic evidence presented was not sufficiently corroborated to establish that the depicted injuries or messages were directly linked to the applicant or his specific group, nor did independent country information support claims of widespread targeting of low-level APC supporters in the period following the election. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant had not demonstrated a real chance of suffering serious harm upon return to Sierra Leone, and therefore did not meet the criteria for a protection visa.