A man who fled Iran and converted to Christianity after security service thugs injected his pet dog with poison has been granted asylum in the UK after winning an appeal.
The life-long animal lover, who has been given anonymity by the UK courts, ran a pet shop in the city of Kermanshah, in western Iran. However he fell foul of the country's strict security services and later settled in Liverpool in what a judge described as a "strikingly unusual" case.
According to a written judgment, which followed a hearing of the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, the man and his business partner bred and sold dogs as a "side line" to their pet shop.
