Mashayekhi v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

The applicant, a citizen of Iran, sought judicial review of the decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal, which had affirmed the refusal of his application for a protection visa on the basis that he was a refugee within the meaning of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The applicant sought to establish that he was a refugee on the basis that he was a Christian and, therefore, subject to persecution in Iran. The Tribunal rejected his claim and concluded that the applicant had not converted to Christianity and was not a Christian. The applicant sought judicial review of the decision of the Tribunal on the basis that it was predicated on the assumption that he had converted to Roman Catholicism. The Court was required to determine whether the Tribunal had erred in its consideration of the applicant’s conversion to Christianity. The Court held that the Tribunal’s decision was not based on the assumption that the applicant had converted to Roman Catholicism and that the applicant had not established that the Tribunal had erred in its consideration of his conversion to Christianity. The applicant’s application for judicial review was dismissed. The Court ordered that the applicant pay the respondent’s costs of the application.