‘Standards of Scrutiny in Judicial Review of Deportation Decisions Involving Article 3, ECHR –X.X. v Minister for Justice and Equality’

Abstract

On the 24th of June 2016 Humphreys J., sitting in the High Court, dismissed two judicial review applications that challenged a decision of the Minister for Justice and Equality to deport a Jordanian national. The Applicant –who was alleged to have links to the so-called Islamic State (IS)– claimed to be, “deeply afraid of facing persecution, including torture, if he [was] returned to Jordan.” The present case comprised two elements. The first application was for declaratory relief relating to the decision to reject the Applicant’s asylum claim. The second was an application for certiorari of the deportation order. It was in the context of the second application that the Court considered the State’s obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In this article, I focus on the Court’s treatment of that second application.