An Albanian man, identified as Armando Iberhasaj, who was jailed for drug cultivation has been spared deportation to Albania thanks to his partner. A judge ruled that deportation would be inappropriate for his partner because she cannot speak Albanian, British media reports.
Armando Iberhasaj, who was sentenced to four months in prison for cultivating more than 200 cannabis plants, claimed that his deportation would violate his rights to a family life with his partner under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
He also claimed that this outweighed his criminal threat to society, given that he had been imprisoned for less than a year, the current threshold point above which foreign offenders face automatic deportation.
Iberhasaj entered the UK illegally from Albania in 2019 and within months was caught growing cannabis plants at a house in Bolsover, Derbyshire.
High Court immigration judge Sarah Pinder ruled that his deportation would be “unjustifiably harsh” on his partner, who the court was told was “not of Albanian descent, had never travelled to Albania before and did not speak the language”.
Judge Pinder added: “To expect [Iberhasaj’s] partner to move with him to Albania would cause – I accept – unjustifiable consequences. This is because she has no connection or connection with Albania other than through [Iberhasaj] and she has never visited Albania nor lived there herself. She gave evidence, which I accept, that she is committed to her employment and to being independent, enjoying her career and earning her own salary. I also accept her evidence that she has recently provided daily support to her sister and mother, who each have health and physical needs, with her sister in particular being investigated for a possible diagnosis of cancer. I accept that limiting her partner’s support to modern means of communication at present would cause unjustifiable consequences for her.”
The decision to allow Iberhasaj to remain in the UK comes after Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, proposed curbing the use by foreign criminals and illegal migrants of Article 8 family rights under the ECHR to prevent their deportation.
In Iberhasaj’s case, Home Office lawyers argued that while it might be “inappropriate” for his partner to move to Albania because she did not speak the language, he had been able to adapt to the UK when he did not speak English. “[Iberhasaj’s partner] could do the same,” they told the court.
The lawyers also argued that Iberhasaj had begun his relationship with his partner at a time when he had no legal right to remain in the UK, and the Home Office had made it clear that it intended to deport him, a fact that it had been made aware of from the start by Iberhasaj./voice