Supreme Court denies refugee interim relief
The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected an application by a Rwandan national for an interim injunction to stop the Malawi Government from deporting him.
The single Supreme Court Judge John Katsala also refused to grant Joseph Nsabimana leave to start judicial review proceedings, ordering that he must wait for a matter that is coming before the High Court of Malawi on Monday.
The Rwandan carries out businesses in Malawi under a five-year business residence permit, but before its expiry on August 22 2024, the Malawi Government planned to deport him on accusations that he was committing money laundering offences.
Police, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling, also searched his house in Lilongwe allegedly for firearms, foreign currency and an underground bunker, but none of these were found.
On June 29 2023, Nsabimana sought a similar application ex-parte in the Civil Division of the High Court of Malawi in Lilongwe, but the lower court ordered that the application be made inter-partes to hear both his side and government.
But fearing that the Ministry of Homeland Security and the Chief Immigration Officer could be planning to deport him, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling, he rushed to the Supreme Court, through his lawyer Khumbo Soko to file the latest application for the judicial review and the order of the injunction.
In the Tuesday ruling, Katsala said the Supreme Court did not agree with the applicant’s argument that the matter coming before the High Court this Monday could be moot and academic if government proceeds to deport him before the application is heard.
“In my view, even if by that time the applicant may be out of the country, he can still prosecute the proceedings and be free to return to Malawi,” reads the ruling in part.
