Britain will deport a man its immigration services believe his life would be threatened if he returned to his home in Pakistan.

The UK Home Office is to deport an Ahmadi Muslim, Ali Adnan Munir from the United Kingdom next week despite his outstanding application for asylum in the UK. Munir has been in detention at the Verne Immigration Removal Centre in Dorset since 29th July, he’s now been informed that he’ll be deported to Pakistan on 9th August, unless an order from the High Court is obtained.

Munir is a member of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam which is banned in Pakistan, The Ahmadis are constitutionally forbidden to practise their faith and face frequent state persecution and violence from hard-line clerics. The Ahmadis believe in Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who they see as the latter day Messiah and a Prophet – a belief deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims.

Munir ran a private school with his father in Lahore, He was picked up from roadside, bundled into the back of a van and beaten. His captors believed Ali was using the school as a means of brainwashing children into accepting the Ahmadi faith, which Munir vehemently denied much to the displeasure of his captors.

Munir arrived in the United Kingdom in August 2014 with his parents and claimed asylum on the basis of his Ahmadi faith. Since his arrival in the UK, he has been active in raising money for charity and volunteering his time for good causes and as a result has support from his local MP, Siobhain McDonagh. His parents, who claimed asylum at the same time were granted asylum in September 2015.

The Home Office’s handling of the case has been called into question by Munir’s lawyer, Qaseem Ahmed, who warns that if the Home Office doesn’t give due regard to cases of such a sensitive nature, it gives little hope to those many asylum seekers not represented by lawyers.

Qaseem Ahmed, Director of Joules Law explained why Munir is detained today, stating, “after two years of litigation the Home Office on 7th June 2016 agreed that its previous decisions were erroneous as they did not take into consideration evidence of his father’s grant of asylum. In fact, the Home Office explicitly advised Munir on 28th June 2016 not to proceed with further litigation as the Home Office recognises his outstanding application and will make a decision in due course. That decision until today has not been made.”

He further explained the circumstances of the deportation decision saying, “Munir was reporting to the Home Office as usual and was detained without proper reason and on 2nd August was told his
chartered flight had been booked for the week after.”

Munir has now resorted to a Judicial Review application in the hope that a Judge will see the error so the Home Office cancels his flight and reconsiders his claim in full.

In a recent Judgement of the Scottish Court of Session on 26th July, Lord Glennie considered a fresh asylum claim of two Ahmadi Muslims and made particular reference to the worsening situation faced by Ahmadis in Pakistan and urged the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, to intervene and apply anxious scrutiny before re-making her decision.

The recent events in Glasgow where the Ahmadi Muslim shopkeeper, Asad Shah was brutally stabbed, reflects the growing animosity towards Ahmadi Muslims creeping into the UK from countries which have openly declared Ahmadis as “not Muslim” and “liable to be killed”.