Khadija Nasser, facing death in Saudi Arabia, Home Affairs won’t budge on deportation

Following assessments and interviews, the Department of Home Affairs says Yemeni asylum seeker Khadija Nasser does not qualify for refugee status, despite her fears of prosecution and possible death should she be deported back to Saudi Arabia.

Legal experts, however, say this decision amounts to a violation of international law for refugees.

Nasser, 28, has until Friday to return home after Home Affairs declined her asylum-seeker permit application. She escaped Saudi Arabia in 2019 due to death threats against her feminist activism and criticism of the country’s Sharia laws.

Despite continued death threats on social media since then, Nasser still did not meet the requirements for refugee status in the country, said Home Affairs.

Her matter was reviewed by the standing committee on refugee affairs (SCRA) following a decision by the refugee status determination officers, explained Home Affairs spokesperson Siya Qoza.

ALSO READ: ‘I’ll be killed back home’: Home Affairs rejects Yemeni woman’s asylum application

“This case was reviewed by the SCRA which confirmed that the applicant did not meet the criteria for international protection. As part of the application process, if the client still feels aggrieved by the decision of the statutory bodies, such person can appeal the decision at the high court. This is provided for to ensure that the humanitarian element of the international protection is safeguarded at all material time,” he said.

Decision violates international law – legal expert

According to the Refugee Act, a person qualifies for refugee status based on a well-founded fear of being persecuted by reason of race, tribe, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.

Nasser fled the strict Sharia law of Saudi Arabia, which interprets verses of the Koran to hold men superior to women and ensure they are obedient. Those who disobey could face corporal punishment, and in some cases, even death.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’s (UNHCR’s) laws – which apply to South Africa – refusal of refugee status for someone like Nasser is a violation of the non-refoulement principle which guarantees protection from facing torture or degrading treatment should a refugee be returned home, said attorney at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s ) Refugee Rights Unit, Shazia Sader.

Our Yemeni friend and feminist Khadija
A girl who was subjected to all types of persecution by her criminal family
she was able to escape from them and to choose her life but just three days and she is going to be deported from South Africa to Saudi Arabia and they will kill her pic.twitter.com/ioQB4xqpc8

— Johan Atheist(يوهان) (@JordanianAthei2) August 24, 2021

“The principle of non-refoulement is applicable to this. If an asylum seeker were made to return to their country of origin, the non-refoulement, which is hailed as a cornerstone of refugee law by the UNHCR and which has been incorporated by many states, including South Africa in their national laws of refugee protection, would be violated.”

“Under international law, the principle of non-refoulement guarantees that nobody should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm,” said Sader.

However, it seems Home Affairs found the non-refoulement principle not applicable to Nasser’s case, said Qoza.

High Court Nasser’s last hope

“The department is obliged by the 1951 [Refugee] Convention to undertake a refoulment test at the level of the refugee status determination officers and the internal reviews and in this instance, those were both undertaken.”

“All decisions are appealable either through the SCRA or the Refugee Appeal Authority of SA [RAASA] which are internal remedies. When still not satisfied, the client may approach the nearest high court,” said Qoza.

While a defeated Nasser was making plans to leave the country by Friday, she has not had her passport returned to her despite attempts to collect it from the Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre upon denial of her application.

ALSO READ: Home Affairs must know the law – court

She first has to provide the refugee centre with her travel ticket before getting back her passport, said Qoza.

“Once the client has made travel arrangements, the client is expected back at the refugee centre where the final arrangements for travel out of the Republic [of South Africa] will be done, including to ensure that the client has the passport for such departure and is received at OR Tambo [International Airport] without any hindrance if self-deporting, or received at Lindela [Repatriation Centre] if being deported by the department,” he said.

Nasser said she would be engaging with her lawyers to review her asylum-seeker application.

“I can’t do anything without my passport. No embassy is willing to help me without it. But I will engage with my lawyer about this,” she told The Citizen on Wednesday.

rorisangk@citizen.co.za