Think there is no agenda?
UK Denies Asylum To Christian Convert From Iran Because "Christianity Is Not Peaceful"
ZeroHedge,
21 March, 2019
The UK has denied asylum to an Iranian man because he said on his application that he converted from Islam to the "peaceful" religion of Christianity, according to The Independent. .
The
Home Office quoted excerpts from the Bible in the man's rejection
letter - saying the book of Revelations is "filled with imagery
of revenge, destruction, death and violence," and concluded that
"These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you
converted to Christianity after discovering it is a ‘peaceful’
religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and
revenge."
When
contacted by The Independent, the Home Office essentially said "our
bad" - claiming that the letter was "not in accordance"
with proper policies for claims based on religious persecution, and
that it was working to improve employee training.
Lawyers
and campaigners said the case demonstrated a “distortion of logic”
and a “reckless” approach to asylum seekers’ lives, stemming
from a tendency by the department to “come up with any reason they
can to refuse” cases. -The Independent
The
asylum seeker's caseworker, Nathan Stevens, tweeted "I’ve seen
a lot over the years, but even I was genuinely shocked to read this
unbelievably offensive diatribe being used to justify a refusal of
asylum."
According
to the latest immigration statistics, there has been a marked
increase in incorrect asylum refusals - with successful appeals up 5%
since 2015-2016.
"You
can see from the text of the letter that the writer is trying to pick
holes in the asylum seeker’s account of their conversion to
Christianity and using the Bible verses as a tool to do that,"
said legal expert Conor James McKinney - deputy editor of the website
Free Movement. McKinney said the case was a symptom of the Home
Office's reputation to "come up with any reason they can to
refuse asylum."
"The
Home Office is notorious for coming up with any reason they can to
refuse asylum and this looks like a particularly creative example,
but not necessarily a systemic outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment
in the department." -Conor James McKinney
The
case is a "particularly outrageous example of the reckless and
facetious approach of the Home Office to determining life and death
asylum cases," said Sarah Teather, director of the Jesuit
Refugee Service (JRS) in the UK. Teather added that JRS frequently
encounters cases where asylum has been refused on "spurious
grounds," adding "Some of these cases require more legal
knowledge to recognise than this bizarre misquoting of the Bible, but
as this instance gains public attention, we need to remember it
reflects a systematic problem and a deeper mindset of disbelief, and
is not just an anomaly that can be explained away."
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