2017186 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of an applicant seeking a protection visa, who claimed to have been involved in a land dispute and subsequent clashes with authorities in China. The applicant alleged that his land was expropriated for a highway project, that villagers were inadequately compensated, and that he and others faced violence, arrest, and threats from both police and "underworld people" following their protests. The applicant subsequently fled to Australia.

The central legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons outlined in section 5J(1) of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth), and whether there was a real chance he would be persecuted or suffer serious harm if returned to China. Alternatively, the Tribunal was required to consider if there were substantial grounds for believing that, as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal to China, the applicant would suffer significant harm as defined in section 36(2A) of the Act.

The Tribunal found that the applicant did not meet the criteria for a protection visa. This conclusion was based on significant credibility concerns regarding the applicant's account, which led the Tribunal to determine that there was no real chance he would be persecuted or face significant harm in China. The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa.