The Jerusalem appellate court that deals with immigration and citizenship statutes ruled on Thursday that desertion from the Eritrean army is grounds for receiving refugee status in Israel.
The court said the state cannot categorically reject such requests, overturning a decision by the Interior Ministry's Population and Immigration Administration.
The ruling was handed down in the case of a former Eritrean soldier living in Israel who has fought against the Population and Immigration Administration's policy that desertion is not sufficient grounds for Israel to uphold his refugee status request.
The government had argued that the man was responsible for proving he would be persecuted in Eritrea because of the political beliefs that would be attributed to him as a result of his desertion from the military. Since he could not provide such proof, his request for asylum was denied.
"There is well-founded concern that he might be persecuted for the political opinion the powers in his [home] country accuse him of holding as a result of his desertion," the court said in Thursday's ruling.
"The demand that the petitioner provide evidence that he will be personally persecuted by the regime [in Eritrea] because of personal political beliefs attributed to him comprises an unnecessary burden on the petitioner and sets the bar unnecessarily high," the ruling said.
"The question of whether the fear the asylum requester refers to is 'well-founded' or not should be examined in the context of the situation in the asylum seeker's home country and in light of his personal circumstances. … If there is a reasonable possibility that the asylum seeker will face any form of serious harm when he returns to his country of origin, it can be established in principle that the [asylum] seeker's fear is indeed well-founded."
The decision sets a precedent that could affect other similar petitions filed by Eritreans in Israel.
Chen Brill-Egri, head of Amnesty International Israel's campaign on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers, welcomed the court's ruling and called on the Israeli government to put an immediate stop to its plan to deport illegal migrants and cancel the summons issued for pre-deportation hearings.
The government must cancel the "thousands of unfounded and erroneous rejections of asylum requests from Eritreans and re-examine them in a fair and worthy manner that aligns with the Refugee Convention, international standards, and the new ruling by the Israeli court," Brill-Egri said.
"After a long battle against the categorical, collective, and illegitimate rejections of thousands of [asylum requests], the court has finally rectified this terrible wrong and ruled unequivocally that desertion [from the Eritrean military] is grounds for asylum, as Amnesty has been arguing at every opportunity for years."
