Citation: 2019 RLLR 173
Tribunal: Refugee Protection Division
Date of Decision: February 21, 2019
Panel: M. Vega
Counsel for the Claimant(s): Lily Luwam Tekle
Country: Egypt
RPD Number: TB7-17112
Associated RPD Number(s): TB7-17135, TB7-17148, TB7-17149, TB7-17157
ATIP Number: A-2020-00518
ATIP Pages: 000525-000530
DECISION
[1] MEMBER: We are back on the record now and the same parties are present. Okay, I am going to give a decision now and in the interpreter will be doing this simultaneously, thank you.
[2] This is the decision in the claims with respect to the following XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and the principal file is TB7-17112.
[3] This decision is being rendered orally today and a written form of these reasons may be edited for spelling, syntax, grammar, references to the applicable case law and legislation and Exhibits may also be included.
[4] First of all I would like to say that the designated representative in this case for the three minor children has been the principal male claimant Mr. XXXX and I have also taken into consideration in this case the Chairperson’ s Guideline 4 before the IRB and that is with respect to the issue of gender-related claims.
[5] Having said that the nexus in this case has been that of a membership in a particular social group under the issue of gender with respect to the two female claimants and for the entire family with the exception of the youngest child, well it is actually for the whole family, but then my decision for the youngest child will be different than it is for the rest of the family.
[6] But the nexus for the whole family is with the issue of religion or being non-conformist to the extremist views of Islamic views of some in the country that are considered extremists, but nonetheless carry some weight, sometimes even with the government.
[7] The allegations in this case have been and are found in the Basis of Claim Forms of the claimants, but they rely primarily on that of the principal claimant Mr. XXXX and these are that even though the family was living well and he was successful in his employment as a XXXX XXXX with the XXXX XXXX, everything was going well and the family had not had problems until 2017 when several threats were left in writing over a period of a few months, were left on the car of the female adult claimant.
[8] And basically these threats made it very clear that her non-conformity to that she was only wearing a hijab, but was not wearing the Niqab had not gone unnoticed and neither had that of her daughter, her eldest child, XXXX, because XXXX was not wearing the Hijab.
[9] She was also hanging around or had friends who were Christians and some of them were male friends and this was not being seen well by persons who carried a more extreme view of Islam and they were warned through letters that were left on the car as well as or in the mailbox as well as through e mails that were later sent to the principal claimant.
[10] And, the e-mails as well as the letters increased in their violent aspect and towards the end they were very insulting to the female claimants as well as threatening to behead the adult principal claimant and to basically kill the entire family for not dressing in proper Islamic attire as well as for not going to the mosque and for not following the mores of Islam.
[11] So, for all this and these allegations which are found in the Basis of Claim Forms led the claimants to fear that this group was going to actually carry out their threats.
[12] They tried to leave and go to other cities to live or to another city, to the city of Suez, but they were unable to live there without encountering that these people knew they had gone there as well as they knew that they had reported to the police what was being said to them and that increased their fear that they were somehow being watched and that the threats could be carried out.
[13] They also became fearful that the police were not interested in helping them because whenever they had made a report or they did on two occasions the police did nothing about it and there was no followup despite being told they would follow up and with all that the claimants decided to leave the country immediately and given that the principal claimant had access to airline tickets quickly because of his position with XXXX.
[14] They made their plans to leave the country given that they also had Canadian visitors visa or temporary resident visas. They left the country in XXXX 2017 and came to Canada and subsequently made claims for protection in Canada.
[15] Yes, on XXXX XXXX, 2017, they arrived at Pearson and went to Hamilton where they had a friend living in Canada.
[16] Okay, so, the issue of identity, I have considered that the certified true copies of your passports which are found in Exhibit 1 have indicated to me as well as the birth certificates that I have provided on file. On a balance of probabilities, I can conclude that the claimants are citizens of Egypt and the youngest claimant XXXX is the citizen of United States of America as his birth was in United States of America.
[17] Therefore, I also wanted to say that I find that all the claimants with the exception of the youngest child XXXX XXXX XXXX, you are not included in this I am afraid, but the rest are Convention refugees for the following reasons.
[18] As I have already mentioned the issue of your identity has been established. Looking at the issue of your credibility, I found that both you Mr. XXXX as well as Ms. XXXX that you were both credible witnesses in what you have alleged in your allegations, I have therefore accepted as credible.
[19] With respect your credibility, I found that you were spontaneous in your replies and that you did not embellish when there was opportunity to embellish and your evidence was not inconsistent with the documentary material as well as with the rest of your documents. Therefore, I have accepted both of your testimony in this case.
[20] According to your evidence, you seem to understand that you were not being Islamic enough by not wearing the Hijab in the case of XXXX as well as by having the friends that she had and going out with these friends.
[21] And, with respect to you Ms. XXXX by not wearing the Niqab, you were considered not Islamic enough and therefore there would be consequences according to this extremist group that was sending you these threats and the consequences would be for your family as well as for your spouse by not insisting or not making the females of the family conform and wear the attire necessary.
[22] According to the documentary material that is found in my package as well as the material found in counsel’s packages of Exhibit-6 and 7 and then Exhibit-8 as well, it would appear that in Egypt there are persons, that although they are considered to be extremists, they express this through threats by expecting the entire population to conform and dress in a certain way and to go to prayer at a certain time.
[23] Anybody who is perceived to be a non-believer in Egypt or someone who is perceived to not have faith is considered to have breached the social or religious mores and in some cases not perhaps in your case where you have not been accused of apostasy, but in other cases where persons have been accused of apostasy, that actually reaches the level of being considered a crime.
[24] The documentary material in my package Sections 1, 2 and 12 speak about the serious possibility of violence or harassment and persecution at the hands of the Muslim community by extremists groups to persons who they perceive to be non-Islamic or apostate or anyone who insults the religion.
[25] In cases with respect to women, when the first revolution occurred in 2011 and then since the second one that took place, sexual assault increased in Egypt and though it was underreported it still was occurring at a terrible rate.
[26] In counsel’s package, it speaks about there was at one point in the Arab world, being a woman in Egypt was considered to be the worst place to be a woman and so that was in 2013, but later reports have indicated that the situation has not improved tremendously at all for women.
[27] The government brought in an anti-harassment law mostly to help women. However, this law was found to be quite onerous because a woman if she was able to get the police to take a report and take her seriously, she had to provide two witnesses to the harassment. So, needless to say, it went underreported as well and that was just in the case of harassment. We are not talking about the case where people are making threats.
[28] And also in the documentary material in general referred to, speaks about the situation with respect to Human Rights in Egypt as having deteriorated very much so.
[29] Now, with respect to the issue of State protection, that is where looking at the documents is so important and that is where the documentary material does also speak about when women complaint to the police, it does not get taken seriously and that is possibly what you experienced Ms. XXXX as well as XXXX when you went to talk to them about the threats that were being made to you.
[30] For whatever reason they don’t take it seriously enough and despite bringing in a law, this antiharassment law that might indicate the police is attempting to deal with the situation, nevertheless I have to look at, is the protection in the country adequate?
[31] And, under the circumstances and looking at the documentary material at the present time, I don’t find that it is under your circumstances where the documents speak about all the sexual assaults that are occurring to women and to anyone who does not dress in serious extremist Muslim garb.
[32] And, generally many in the population believe that it is also the woman’s fault if she is not dressed in strict Niqab or hijab and then is assaulted or sexually harassed, assaulted of course being worse.
[33] So, given that and I believe that you Mr. XXXX when you said that you don’t want anybody pressuring you or your family with respect to your religion or making you follow in a certain way as well as, as you ma’am, Ms. XXXX when you said about how if you give in to one request that they make then they will just continue and until you are following everything that this group is telling you and while the documentary material speaks about the government trying to deal with extremism in terms of the violence that these extremists groups are causing in the country, it doesn’t seem to be working at the level of persons such as yourself that are experiencing these threats.
[34] Therefore, given all of this that could be imputed to you for being religious nonconformist as well as the being of the female gender so membership in particular social group and I believe that you could not get the adequate State protection from the government as you have tried by going to the police on two occasions and now that it is possible that they are wondering if the family of Mr. XXXX if you have made a refugee claim abroad as you have; given that now may even put you in a position if they were to learn that you have made a claim that is, that you might be viewed in a different light by the government as you believe that you would be viewed as a traitor despite the fact that you had a position that was considered to be one given to people who are viewed well from their prospective of national security.
[35] So, for all these reasons I find that the four of you …… oh, one more thing I have to mention is with respect to internal flight alternative in Alexandria. I’ve decided that based on the evidence I believe that what you face which is a serious possibility of persecution. I believe you face it throughout the country and that even if you were to move to Alexandria, I don’t believe you could do so and live safely without being in hiding and therefore that is not an option.
[36] So, for these reasons then in the family XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX I find that you are Convention refugees.
[37] However, with respect to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, there has been no evidence submitted regarding United States of America and that is that there is no evidence refuting the presumption of State protection for the minor child in the country of his citizenship.
[38] I therefore find that you, XXXX, I have to reject your claim and I find that you are not a Convention refugee.
[39] Okay? So, everybody else is…. Thank you. And thanks Madam Interpreter. This hearing is now concluded. Good day to everyone.
———- REASONS CONCLUDED ———-