GHORBANI & SAEED

This matter concerned an application by the applicants, Ghorbani and Saeed, for an order that the respondent, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, be restrained from removing them from Australia. The applicants sought to prevent their deportation on the basis that they feared persecution in Iran, their country of origin, due to their alleged involvement in political activities against the Iranian government. The application was heard by Kemp J in the Federal Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the applicants had established a real chance of suffering significant harm, specifically persecution, if returned to Iran. This required the Court to assess the credibility of the applicants' claims regarding their political activities and the potential consequences they might face from the Iranian authorities. The Court also had to consider the Minister's assessment of these risks and whether it was reasonable.

Kemp J considered the evidence presented by both the applicants and the respondent, including country information reports and the applicants' own testimony. His Honour applied the principles established in *Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Teoh* and subsequent case law concerning the assessment of claims for protection visas. The Court's task was to determine if there was a real chance of persecution, a standard that requires more than a mere possibility but less than a probability. His Honour found that the applicants had not discharged the onus of proving that they would face persecution upon return to Iran, and therefore, their application for an injunction failed.