An asylum seeker has been allowed to stay in the UK because he doesn’t want to shave his beard. The unnamed migrant, from Tajikistan, won an appeal after arguing he would have had to shave his beard off if he was deported.

He also said he could be tortured if the Home Office deported him back to Tajikistan. His claim was initially dismissed but a court has now decided that he should get international protection in the UK because of his facial hair.

As reported by the Telegraph, hundreds of thousands of men have been arrested for having a beard in Tajikistan over the last decade. The government unofficially banned facial hair in a bid to stop men from becoming radicalised and joining Islamic terror groups.

The man, who was granted anonymity, is the latest migrant to use human rights law to stop their deportation. After his claim was initially rejected by a judge, he claimed the tribunal had not properly assessed whether he would shave his beard because of a “fear of being persecuted”.

Parminder Saini, the Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal, said: “The (First-tier Tribunal) judge has failed to assess whether the (Tajik man) is shaving off his beard because of ‘social pressures’ or due to a ‘fear of being persecuted’.

“We find that this represents inadequate and incomplete reasoning in relation to the key issue of why the [Tajik man] is willing to shave his beard on return to Tajikistan.

“If he wears a beard out of religious conviction but will conform for reasons of securing his safety, he may be entitled to international protection.

“If, however, he would conform because of social or other pressures, or simply because wearing a beard is not an act of faith for him, and not because of the risk of persecution, then he may not be a refugee.”

He added: “We also note that the judge has failed to consider the objective risk to the (Tajik man) by reference to the background material before him.

“(His lawyer) took us to several examples… which pointed to torture and mistreatment remaining widespread, arbitrary arrest being commonplace, thousands of Tajik men having their beards forcibly shaved and being fingerprinted and recorded by the authorities etc.

“Thus, these examples of background material before the judge were relevant to, and should have informed, his assessment of whether the (Tajik man) was at risk on return as well as the likelihood of whether (he) would feel compelled to shave due to fear, but they find no mention in the decision.”