By Kim Rahn
An appeals court has rejected the request for refugee status from an Algerian man who claims to be gay.
The man, 42, whose name was withheld, came to Korea in August 2010 and applied for refugee status in November 2013. Saying he was gay, he claimed he would face persecution in his Muslim homeland where homosexuality is criminally punished.
He claimed when he was in Algeria, he had been beaten or confined at schools and at work because of his sexual orientation. He said that after coming to Korea, he heard from his sister that neighbors in his hometown came to know he was gay and thus he could not go back.
But the Cheongju Immigration Processing Center in North Chungcheong Province did not accept his request, saying his situation did not meet the criteria set by the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
He filed an objection with the Ministry of Justice but this was also denied, and so he filed an administrative suit against the center in January 2015.
The Cheongju District Court ruled in favor of him, saying the Algerian government is unlikely to provide him with legal protection from anti-homosexual violence, and his sexual orientation has been known to the Algerian government and the Algerian Embassy in Seoul through the suit.
“According to the convention which is aimed at protecting refugees’ basic rights and freedoms, being unable to express his sexual orientation for fear of persecution is a form of persecution,” the court said.
But the Daejeon High Court overturned the lower court ruling, Thursday.
“We recognize that he is gay. But we can’t trust all of his claims that he was persecuted in his homeland. The timing of the application is also suspicious as he applied for refugee status only after he was caught during a government crackdown on illegal aliens,” the court said.
“Even if his claims are all true, he would not face danger or threats if he settles in other regions in Algeria apart from his hometown and does not disclose his sexual orientation.”
The man is appealing to the Supreme Court.
The high court ruling is contrary to two previous cases where a Pakistani man and a Nigerian man were granted refugee status in 2010 and 2013, respectively, for being gay.