Federal Court: In Appellant S395, HCA had held that Tribunal made an error by "focusing on an assumption about how the risk of persecution might be avoided" if S395 changed behaviour by not living openly as homosexual. Appellant in the present case stopped believing in Islam and became agnostic, after which he was discreet about his agnostic views and applied for protection. The principal reason for being discreet was that he saw no reason to propagate his views. Another reason was that his mother had "asked him to be careful about speaking out about his ... views". Was it open to the IAA to find that, given Appellant's choice not to proselytise his agnosticism, he did not have a well-founded fear of persecution?
The Federal Court answered those questions as follows: