R (on the application of Mehari) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] EWHC 3464 (Admin), [2010] All ER (D) 154 (Jan)
The question of how far illegal departure from Eritrea informed as to whether the asylum seeker was a draft evader and whether the adjudicator had or was bound to reject an account that relied on illegal departure might be a material issue, but would not be a decisive one where the illegality of the departure was not relied on as the critical evidence of being wanted for disloyalty; if that was not the case it would put refugee law on a par with the witchcraft trials of the Middle Ages when those who did not drown were found to be innocent and those who floated were guilty (i.e. the position would be that only those who were refused permission to leave Eritrea were refugees but the very fact that one had left the country would be conclusive evidence that one was not at risk of persecution) (see [47] of the judgment).
