ImmigrationAsylum applications - order designating Pakistan a country in respect of which there was 'in general no risk of persecution' - court entitled to review facts supporting legality of orderR(Javed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another, R (Zulfiqar Ali) v Same; R (Abid Ali) v Same: CA ( Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers MR, Lords Justice Peter Gibson and Latham LJJ): 17 May 2001In 1996, after short debates in both Houses, parliament approved, by affirmative resolution, the Asylum (Designated Countries of Destination and Designated Safe Third Countries) Order 1996 (SI 1996 No 2671), by which the secretary of state designated Pakistan as a country in respect of which there was 'in general no risk of persecution.' The applicant asylum seekers were subsequently certified under the order as subject to the expedited procedure provided by the asylum legislation which, among other things, deprived them of a right of appeal from the decisions of special adjudicators.

Special adjudicators dismissed their asylum claims and the applicants applied for judicial review, among other things, of the secretary of state's decision to include Pakistan in the list of designated countries.

The judge granted the applications and the secretary of state appealed.Nigel Pleming QC and Steven Kovats (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the secretary of state; Richard Drabble QC and Eric Fripp (instructed by Powell & Co) for Asif Javed; Nicholas Blake QC and Edward Grieves (instructed by Bhogal Lal) for Zulfiqar Ali and Abid Ali.Held, dismissing the appeal, that the court was entitled to review the legality of subordinate legislation made by a minister and approved by affirmative resolution of both Houses of Parliament and to review the material facts supporting the legality of the subordinate legislation and form its own judgment; that having regard to evidence which established that among women in Pakistan there was in general a serious risk of persecution, and to evidence relating to the treatment of Ahmadis, the secretary of state's inclusion of Pakistan in the order was unlawful.

(WLR)