Forced into marriage at 17, subjected to FGM — and still denied refugee status in Cyprus

A Cyprus court has overturned the Asylum Service’s rejection of a Sierra Leone woman’s application for international protection and recognised her as a refugee, after hearing testimony that she had been forced into marriage at 17, subjected to domestic and sexual violence, and had suffered female genital mutilation.

Judge Elena Riga of the International Protection Administrative Court ruled that the woman’s claims were credible and that the conditions for refugee recognition under Article 3 of...