Date: 20050420
Docket: IMM-9153-03
Citation: 2005 FC 532
Toronto, Ontario, April 20th, 2005
Present: The Honourable Mr. Justice Campbell
BETWEEN:
FAROOK AHMED
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION
Respondent
REASONS FOR ORDER AND ORDER
[1] In the present case, the Applicant, a citizen of Bangladesh, claims refugee protection on the ground of his political opinion. An essential feature of the Applicant's claim is that his persecutors have laid false criminal charges against him in Bangladesh, and, as a result, there is presently a warrant outstanding for his arrest. In support of the Applicant's claim, on the record tendered before the Refugee Protection Division ("RPD") there is unrefuted evidence that the charges exist, and on the evidence of a lawyer, they are active as of 2002. There is no evidence upon which to conclude that, at the time of the hearing before the RPD, the charges were not still active.
[2] In its decision, the RPD dismissed the Applicant's claim on the basis of a negative credibility finding. There is no mention in the decision of the critical independent evidence with respect to the false charges outstanding against the Applicant. Given that the false charges are an essential feature of the Applicant's claim, and the importance of them was placed directly before the RPD in the argument made by the Applicant's Counsel at the time of the hearing, and given that this essential feature of the Applicant's case was in no way dealt with on the face of the RPD's decision, I find that the RPD's decision was made in reviewable error.
ORDER
Accordingly, I set aside the RPD's decision and refer the matter back to a differently constituted panel for redetermination.
"Douglas R. Campbell"
J.F.C.
FEDERAL COURT
Names of Counsel and Solicitors of Record
DOCKET: IMM-9153-03
STYLE OF CAUSE: FAROOK AHMED
Applicant
and
THE MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP AND
IMMIGRATION
Respondent
DATE OF HEARING: APRIL 19, 2005
PLACE OF HEARING: TORONTO, ONTARIO
REASONS FOR ORDER
AND ORDER BY: CAMPBELL J.
DATED: APRIL 20, 2005
APPEARANCES BY:
Clifford Luyt FOR THE APPLICANT
Anshumala Juyal FOR THE RESPONDENT
SOLICITORS OF RECORD:
WALDMAN & ASSOCIATES
Toronto, Ontario FOR THE APPLICANT
John H. Sims, Q.C.
Deputy Attorney General of Canada FOR THE RESPONDENT