Foreign students claim human rights violation

Three Chinese students yesterday filed a constitutional application in the First Hall of the Civil Court claiming that their fundamental human right to a fair hearing had been violated by the Immigration Appeals Board.

Zhirong Liang, Chongjie Zhao and Qin Yong Zhang filed their case against the Attorney General.

The students claimed they were currently attending university courses in Malta after having arrived here in 2002 to learn English.

They had recently been arrested by the police and the Principal Immigration Officer had ordered their removal from the country on the basis of an allegation that they had been working in a Chinese restaurant.

In February, the students lodged an appeal with the Immigration Appeals Board asking the board to revoke the removal order on the basis that they had not been employed in the restaurant. On the contrary, the students claimed they had been working gratis and were in the restaurant on a trial basis.

The students claimed they had not received a fair hearing from the appeals board and that their fundamental human right to a fair hearing as protected by both the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights had been violated. Both stipulated that a tribunal or court had to be impartial and independent.

The students alleged that the members of the appeals board were appointed on the advice of the Minister of Justice and on that of the Principal Immigration Officer who was responsible for removal orders.

As a result, the students claimed that the board was not independent and impartial.

Furthermore, one of the requisites for the independence and impartiality of any tribunal was the fact that the adjudicator had to have security of tenure so as to be protected from outside influences. Yet, the members of this appeals board were appointed for a three-year period and could be re-appointed to the board. This situation did not offer sufficient guarantees to satisfy the element of security of tenure, the students argued.

They therefore requested the court to declare that their fundamental human rights had been violated and to provide them with a remedy.

Dr Shaheryar Ghaznavi and Dr Michael Camilleri signed the application.