An Egyptian man who fled to the UK after hitting a police officer in Egypt in 2021 has won an appeal against a rejected asylum claim. The claimant, identified in court as MM, left Egypt after the policeman he had run over demanded financial compensation that he could not afford.
MM travelled through Libya, Italy, and France before arriving in the UK, where he applied for asylum. His human rights application was initially rejected on credibility grounds. Egyptian authorities had accused him of links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government has declared a terrorist organisation.
An immigration judge, Judge Graves, found there was an error in the treatment of evidence submitted by MM. The judge noted that documents MM had provided were not properly considered, and highlighted the difficulties he faced as a non-English-speaking litigant representing himself.
Judge Graves stated: 'I am therefore unable to find any basis in the evidence before the judge, to support the finding that MM failed to provide these documents at the earliest stage... Accordingly, I find there is an error in the treatment of this evidence, which gave rise to a core adverse credibility point.'
The case will now be reheard in the first-tier tribunal at a later date.
