A man who fled Iran and converted to Christianity after security service thugs injected his pet dog with poison has been granted asylum in the UK after winning an appeal.
The life-long animal lover, who has been given anonymity by the UK courts, ran a pet shop in the city of Kermanshah, in western Iran. However he fell foul of the country's strict security services and later settled in Liverpool in what a judge described as a "strikingly unusual" case.
According to a written judgment, which followed a hearing of the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, the man and his business partner bred and sold dogs as a "side line" to their pet shop.
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However, according to Upper Tribunal Judge Gaenor Bruce, dogs are "frowned upon" in Iran as "unclean" and "un-Islamic", and when the authorities discovered the side line they shut down the pet shop until his business partner promised not to sell dogs.
Judge Bruce wrote: "He said that people mainly kept them in the countryside and this was not seen as a problem because you could say they were farm dogs. As long as no one complained that would be ok. It was when they were obviously pets - 'apartment dogs' - that there could be difficulties with the authorities."
In May 2015, the man took his own dog, called Shanti, to a veterinary clinic for some vaccinations but fell foul of a hostile group of men on his way home. The court heard: "Although they were not wearing uniforms the Appellant understood that they were from, or acting on behalf of, the State. They asked him what was in the box he was carrying. He admitted it was his dog.
"A photograph has been produced of a small white dog, which the Appellant identifies as Shanti. The men told him that Islam prohibits the keeping of dogs and that it would have to be destroyed.
"Right there in the street they injected the dog with something which killed it. The Appellant describes himself as being devastated by this loss."
In the months which followed he continued to work in the pet shop. The court heard a woman who was a regular customer noticed that he was "down in the dumps" and asked him what was wrong.
He said that he was depressed and angry about his dog being killed and was also having problems in his marriage. The court heard the customer started to speak with him about Christianity, which he became increasingly attracted to in his disillusionment with the Iranian regime and Islam.
Over the coming months, the man, his wife, his brother and his cousin were introduced to Christianity and took the decision to convert. However, the man grew afraid when his cousin was arrested by a group of men who raided his home and called him and "infidel", and realised he was probably also wanted.
He fled the country and ended up in the UK in March 2016, where he claimed asylum saying he was at risk in Iran as a Christian convert. However, despite evidence that the security forces had indeed raided the pet shop and his home after his escape, the Home Office rejected his claim, leading to a lengthy court battle.
In 2017, a First Tier Tribunal judge rejected an appeal against the Home Office decision, stating the court did not believe the man was a genuine convert, despite witness statements from clergy at Liverpool Cathedral saying he had worshipped there for around a year.
A second appeal was rejected in 2018, however the man was granted the right to appeal again and appeared before Judge Bruce this year.
In her judgment, Judge Bruce stated she was satisfied that the man was a genuine convert, highlighting evidence from Reverend Canon Dr Neal Barnes, Vice-dean at Liverpool Cathedral, who works with people "coming to conversion" and runs courses with converts from the "Persian community".
Reverend Barnes told the court the man was "one of our most committed and faithful members, stretching back over the whole of the last six years", while other witnesses described him playing an "active role" in his local parish church community.
Judge Bruce criticised his rejection wrote: "I am satisfied that the Appellant is a genuine Christian, and that communal and open worship is for him a fundamental part of that faith. That being my finding, it follows that I must allow the appeal....
"If the Appellant were to return to Iran he would either continue his faith, thus placing himself at immediate risk of persecution, or he would conceal it for fear of such harm. Either way he is a refugee."
She allowed the appeal on protection and human rights grounds.
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