IMMIGRATIONAsylum application - fear of persecution by terrorist group because of military service conscripts - no right to asylumR v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex parte Fadli: CA (Schiemann and Tuckey L.JJ and Sir Swinton Thomas):23 November 2000An Algerian male citizen, who would have been conscripted into the army had he remained in Algeria, applied for a political asylum in the United Kingdom on the ground that a terrorists group opposed to the Algerian government carried out persecution of those serving in the Algerian military and their families during and after their service.

The special adjudicator refused the application, stating that the applicant's case did not meet the criteria of conscientious objection to military service or the risk of excessively severe punishment for refusal to serve in the military, and the Immigration Appeal Tribunal refused leave to appeal.

Munby J refused judicial review of those decisions.

The applicant appealed.Nicholas Blake QC and Margaret Phelan (instructed by Saleem Sheik) for the applicant.

Eleanor Grey (instructed by the treasury solicitor) for the secretary of state.Held, dismissing the appeal, that a danger arising out of military service was governed by international conventions which were aimed at protecting soldiers, but none of them applied to the applicant's claim for asylum under the convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees; that although he might have a well-founded fear of being killed for reasons of nationality or religion he did not have a well-founded fear of persecution as that term was used in the convention; that a fear of persecution by terrorists opposed to the government of the day, therefore, did not qualify for asylum under the convention, however great the risk to him and his family that might be from the terrorist group.