A Muslim man who was imprisoned in Chad on grounds of his sexual orientation and fled to South Africa after he was released as he fears persecution, turned to court after home affairs officials here refused to grant him refugee status.
The man, only identified as MA, on Friday headed to the urgent court at the Western Cape High Court, where he obtained a lifeline. He asked that the decision by the Refugee Status Determination Officer, in refusing his refugee status, be overturned.
Judge Gayaat da Silva-Salie ordered that his application for asylum status had to be heard afresh, by another officer. The judge remarked that the reasons given by the officer for refusing his application were nonsensical.
MA fled to South Africa to join his lover, a doctor working here. He explained that homosexuality is criminalised in his country of origin. He was arrested in Chad in September 2022, after which he was convicted on charges of homosexual activities and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
On appeal, his sentence was reduced to 12 months with the option of paying a fine. He was released from prison in February 2023 and entered South Africa in May 2023, by way of a visitor’s visa. He applied for asylum on a few occasions and his most recent interview was in September last year.
While the reasons for refusing him asylum status formed part of the court proceedings, the judge remarked that they were unintelligible, irrational and failed to consider the applicable law. The officer also failed to consider the circumstances in Chad, in particular their position on homosexuality.
MA submitted in support of his application for asylum that he fled Chad after being imprisoned solely for being a homosexual man. He further stated that his safety and freedom remain threatened in Chad, where homosexuality is a criminal offence. He also indicated that his family had disowned him and that he faces persecution both from the State and society at large in his home country.
Home affairs, on the other hand, said he has not yet exhausted the internal remedies available to him and argued that he could return to that country. The department reasoned that the judiciary in Chad is independent, and that although homosexuality is criminalised, some courts had released offenders.
Judge Da Silva-Salie found the arguments by the department “rather problematic”.
“It accepts the factual basis of criminalisation of homosexuality, with consequent criminal convictions and punishments in the applicant’s home country of Chad, whilst simultaneously rejecting the credibility of the applicant’s claim of fear of future persecution,” she said.
She added that no attempt was made to test or evaluate the applicant’s claim that his prior arrest, imprisonment, and societal ostracisation due to his homosexuality posed a continued threat.
The judge said if the applicant returned to Chad, his position can only be worse if he continued his lifestyle as he would be already a convicted person of homosexual offences. She referred to the reason forwarded for refusing asylum as “a characteristic of a sequence of illogical babble”.
