Asylum for People Persecuted for their Political Beliefs

Hannah Tenison ’16 and Jaime Welsh ’15 convinced the Department of Homeland Security’s Asylum Office to grant asylum to M—, a woman from a central African country.  M— courageously spoke at a Women’s Day rally about her experiences as a rape victim.  The government’s security forces viewed the speech as an indictment of government inaction in the face of widespread rape.  Two days later, M— was arrested and taken to prison.  Interrogators accused her of inciting the crowd against the government and told her that she would be killed unless she provided the names of co-conspirators.  After five terrifying days, M—’s family was able to bribe a guard to allow her to escape.  She spent two months in hiding before she was able to flee the country.  Despite extensive corroborating evidence, the Asylum Officer who conducted the hearing initially denied the application, finding that certain aspects of M—’s testimony were inconsistent with country conditions information.  However, when the Clinic requested reconsideration, pointing out that our client had never been confronted with or given an opportunity to explain the alleged “inconsistencies,” the Asylum Office took the rare step of granting a re-hearing.  All of the Asylum Officer’s concerns were assuaged at the new hearing, and M— was granted asylum.