1932525 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application for review of a delegate's decision to refuse the applicant, a citizen of Lebanon, a Protection visa. The applicant had applied for the visa in 2012, and the delegate refused it in 2015. Following an unsuccessful review by the First Tribunal and subsequent judicial review proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court and the Federal Court, the matter was remitted to the AAT for determination according to law.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of being removed from Australia, the applicant faced a real risk of suffering significant harm. This assessment was to be made in relation to the complementary protection criterion under section 36(2)(aa) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), given that the applicant's claims were confined to this ground due to the operation of section 48A of the Act and relevant case law. The Tribunal was required to consider the definitions of "significant harm" and the circumstances under which a real risk of such harm would not be found, as outlined in section 36(2A) and (2B) of the Act.

The Tribunal reasoned that the applicant's claims, which included allegations of torture, cruel and inhuman treatment during detention by Lebanese intelligence, a subsequent shooting incident, and a death sentence, warranted further consideration under the complementary protection provisions. The Tribunal accepted the applicant's Lebanese citizenship and noted that he did not have a right to reside in another country, thus not being excluded from protection obligations. While the Tribunal acknowledged the applicant's submitted evidence, including a Lebanese Judicial Council document and a statement from his former attorney, the decision to remit the matter indicates that a full determination of the applicant's claims under section 36(2)(aa) had not yet been completed.

The Tribunal remitted the matter for reconsideration with the direction that the applicant satisfies section 36(2)(aa) of the *Migration Act*.