1/ Having served as 1 of the expert witnesses for this case, I disagree with the determination. A lot to say here to say about evidentiary standards in asylum appeals including at UT level, so here's a little thread @schymyck https://twitter.com/freemovementlaw/status/1308375629314822145

2/ What you're talking about with Nuba individuals in Sudan is racism amounting to persecution. Now consider that the country has a hugely stretched human rights community that understandably prioritises reporting of the most egregious abuses of individuals already known to them.

3/ Yet paucity of evidence is used by our courts time and time again to say that discrimination simply doesn’t exist. Worse still, sometimes the fact that only abuses of activists are documented is used by courts and SSHD to suggest that ONLY opposition activists are at risk.

4/ As an example, see the recent excellent reporting (see https://wapo.st/2HAlRxr ) of the violence suffered by Hajooj Kuka @hajooj, a prominent activist and director of Nuba-focused documentaries Beats of the Antonov ( @beatsofAntonov) & Akasha (go watch them please).

5/ The quantity and quality of reporting on this incident shouldn’t be used to say, ‘only prominent activists are of interest to authorities’, but I betcha it would have been had it been part of this case.

6/ By contrast there are very few organisations able to use their already stretched resources to make in-roads w/ the most intensely persecuted communities whose members’ everyday stories of state abuse won’t grab headlines. But for a great example see https://hudocentre.org 

7/ I will always remember being told by an activist that when he was imprisoned he met individuals from Nuban & Darfuri backgrounds who had spent YEARS in prisons because their cases were never referred to organisations & they were just straight up forgotten by prison staff.

8/ And yet using this example in court, I’m told it’s anecdotal. But no formal reporting exists. This amounts to a huge catch-22 in asylum appeals and @ukhomeoffice country policy & information, that puts returnees at risk because our evidentiary standards aren't appropriate.

9/ I also question the wisdom of judges acting as political analysts & explicitly discounting evidence from 2 witnesses w/ combined decades of country experience. Why are they alone confident that Sudan’s fragile transition will hold & produce a full & flourishing democracy?

10/ @WagingPeaceUK is seeing 100s of new Sudanese arrivals on so-called 'small boats'. Many fled violence before the 2019 revolution & got stuck in Libya. We're terrified that this determination might threaten Britain's proud history of offering safety to these persecuted groups.