Muradzi v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

The applicant, Mr Muradzi, sought judicial review of a decision by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship to refuse his application for a protection visa. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal had affirmed the Minister's decision. The matter came before Hayne J of the High Court of Australia.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Tribunal had erred in law by failing to consider, or adequately consider, the applicant's claim that he would be subjected to torture if returned to his country of origin. This involved an examination of the Tribunal's obligations under the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) and the *International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights* (ICCPR), particularly Article 3 which prohibits torture.

Hayne J reasoned that the Tribunal's findings did not demonstrate that it had properly considered the possibility of torture. The Tribunal's focus on the likelihood of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, as required by the *Migration Act*, did not absolve it from considering the separate and distinct prohibition against torture under international law. His Honour held that the Tribunal's failure to engage with the evidence concerning the risk of torture constituted an error of law.

The Court ordered that the decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal be set aside and remitted to the Tribunal for redetermination according to law.