MJ (Sudan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Where permission to appeal has been granted but the appellant has missed the time for lodging the appeal through no personal fault, the court may extend time. The fact that the underlying appeal has been found arguable is important. An appellant should not be deprived of the opportunity to pursue a soundly based human-rights claim because of delay for which the appellant is blameless.

The appellant sought an extension of time to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal’s dismissal of his appeal from an immigration adjudicator. The adjudicator had rejected his asylum and human-rights claims on credibility grounds. The Tribunal granted permission to appeal because the credibility assessment was arguably unsound.

The appellant’s former solicitors incorrectly advised him about the appeal process. Further delay followed while he sought new representation and obtained the case papers. The issue was whether time should be extended where the delay was not attributable to the appellant and the proposed appeal was arguable.

1. Application granted. Applying BR (Iran) [2007] EWCA Civil 198, an extension of time was appropriate. The AIT considered the proposed appeal arguable, and the appellant was personally blameless for the principal delay.
2. Permission to appeal from the AIT did not itself lodge an appeal in the Court of Appeal. A Notice of Appeal had to be filed within 14 days after service of written notice of the AIT’s decision.
3. It would be manifestly wrong for a soundly based human-rights appeal to be denied because of delay for which the appellant was personally blameless.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Application for an extension of time to appeal granted.
• Asylum and Immigration Tribunal: Permission to appeal granted on the ground that the immigration adjudicator’s negative credibility assessment was arguably unsound.
• Immigration adjudicator: The appellant’s asylum and human-rights claims were rejected on credibility grounds.