Asylum seeker wins court battle

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An Albanian asylum seeker described as "suicidal" has won a High Court battle forcing the Home Office to review its decision to send him home.

Agim Kurtaj, 35, had previously sought to remain in the UK on the basis that he would be persecuted in Albania.

When his claim failed, Mr Kurtaj, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, made a second application focusing on his mental health.

The High Court ruled his second bid must be treated as a fresh application.

Suicide fear

Mr Kurtaj first arrived in the UK in September 1999 and claimed asylum on the grounds that he had suffered persecution and torture.

His application and appeal were rejected.

He applied for permission to bring a further appeal before the Court of Appeal relying on medical evidence from his psychiatrist, but was refused.

The Home Office also said he was unable to make a new application.

Bringing the case to the High Court on Thursday, Mr Kurtaj's lawyers argued he might commit suicide if he was sent back to Albania.

They said that, because of his mental health, returning him would constitute inhuman and degrading treatment, contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and breach Article 8, his right to private and family life.

No guarantee

The home secretary had refused to accept the submissions regarding his mental health as "a fresh claim".

But Mrs Justice Black, sitting at London's High Court on Thursday, ruled that there was fresh evidence that his mental condition had deteriorated and that should be taken into account.

She said the new material was "significantly different" from the earlier claim, when the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia had not been made.

The judge said her decision gave Mr Kurtaj a right of appeal but there was "absolutely no guarantee that appeal will succeed."