The European Court of Human Rights’ Approach to Causes of Iranians’ Asylum Applications in the light of Non- Refoulement Principle

One of the most important principles of asylum law is the principle of non- refoulement whereby a refugee should not be returned to his/her home country where his /her life or liberty would be at risk. Although this principle is not explicitly recognised in the European Convention on Human Rights (echr), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as oversight judicial mechanism of the convention, in its jurisprudence, with its extensive interpretation of Article 3 of the Convention, has made refugees subject to human rights protections. Some Iranians, knowing the importance of this article and the role of the Court in ensuring its observance, seek refuge in European states and eventually recourse to the Court alleging a breach of Article 3 obligations if extradited by a European state. The main question of this article is what is the court’s approach to the reasons for the Iranians’ asylum applications? Case by case study shows that religious, sexual and political reasons are the main reasons for Iranians seeking asylum and the Court has taken a low threshold for religious causes and taken an easy approach, while it has taken a strict approach to sexual and political causes with high thresholds.