FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
A drug cultivation prisoner has escaped deportation to Albania after a judge ruled that the measure would be "harsh" on his partner, who cannot speak Albanian.
Armando Iberhasaj, who was sentenced to four months in prison for cultivating more than 200 cannabis plants, claimed that deportation would violate his rights to a family life with his partner under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He claimed that this outweighed his criminal threat to society, given that he had been imprisoned for less than a year, which is also the limit above which foreign offenders face automatic deportation.
Iberhasaj entered the UK illegally from Albania in 2019 and within months was caught growing cannabis plants at a house in Bolsover, Derbyshire.
High Immigration Court Judge Sarah Pinder acknowledged that cannabis cultivation "certainly" could cause "serious social harm". But she said the four-month sentence was "indicative" that his sentence "in the specific circumstances of the offence, did not cause 'serious harm'".
She ruled that his deportation would be “unjustifiable” for his partner, who the court was told was “not of Albanian origin, had never travelled to Albania before and did not speak the language”.
The decision to allow Iberhasaj to remain in the UK comes after Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, proposed curbing the use by foreign criminals and illegal migrants of Article 8 family rights under the ECHR to prevent their deportation.
The new restrictions on the use of Article 8 rights will mean that only immediate family will count to prevent “suspicious” connections. Judges will also have to prioritize public safety over individual Article 8 rights.
Ms Mahmood has ordered a review of the criminality thresholds that apply to all immigration routes, meaning any immigrant with any conviction for most criminal offences will be denied the right to settle in the UK and could face deportation.
In Iberhasaj's case, Home Office lawyers argued that, while it might be "inappropriate" for his partner to move to Albania because she did not speak the language, he had been able to adapt to the UK when he did not speak English.
The lawyers also argued that Iberhasaj had begun his relationship with his partner at a time when he had no legal right to remain in the UK, and the Home Office had made it clear that it intended to deport him, a fact that it had been made aware of from the outset by Iberhasaj.
However, lawyers for the Ministry of the Interior claimed that it was a criminal offence that “caused serious harm” because the illegal drug trade had “a serious and negative impact on society”.
Lini një Përgjigje