*R (on the application of Jamar Brown (Jamaica)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Immigration – Asylum seeker. The respondent, a Jamaican national, came to the United Kingdom and claimed asylum on the grounds of his risk of persecution in Jamaica due to the fact that he was a homosexual. He was detained pending a decision on removal, under a fast-tracking procedure, as Jamaica was on a list of states designated under s 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. He applied for judicial review of the Secretary of State's decision to include Jamaica in the designated list. A deputy judge dismissed the application. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the claimant's appeal. The Supreme Court, in dismissing the Secretary of State's appeal, held that, on its true construction, s 94(5) of the Act referred to countries, or parts of countries, where its citizens were free from any serious risk of systematic persecution, either by the state itself or by non-state agents which the state was unable or unwilling to control.