subjected to severe abuses and torture" and that the author is considered "completely trustworthy". The State party's observations on admissibility and merits 4.1 By submission of 21 December 1999, the State party informs the Committee that, following the Committee's request under rule 108, paragraph 9, of its rules of procedure, the Swedish Immigration Board decided to stay the expulsion order against the author while his communication is under consideration by the Committee. 4.2 By submission of 2 March 2000, the State party informs the Committee that it does not raise any objection as to the admissibility of the communication. It confirms the author's account of the internal remedies exhausted. 4.3 With regard to the general situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the State party notes that although there are at present signs that Iranian society is undergoing changes that may entail improvements in the human rights field, the country is still reported to be a major abuser of human rights. 4.4 The State party further states that it refrains from making an evaluation of its own regarding whether or not the author has substantiated his claim that he would risk being tortured if expelled, and leaves it to the discretion of the Committee to determine whether the case reveals a violation of article 3 of the Convention. It notes that in its jurisprudence, the Committee has observed that past torture is one of the elements to be taken into account when examining a claim under article 3 of the Convention but that the aim of the Committee's examination is to determine whether the author would at present be at risk of being subjected to torture if returned. The State party does not wish to question that the author has spent some time in prison, nor that he was at that time subjected to ill-treatment. Without making an assessment of its own, the State party reminds the Committee of the opinions put forward by the Swedish Immigration Board and the Aliens Appeal Board. 4.5 The Swedish Immigration Board rejected the author's application for asylum on 13 September 1999, on the basis that the circumstances invoked by the author lacked credibility. The credibility of the author was questioned on the following grounds: (i) the fact that the author had not presented his Iranian passport or any other travel documents to the Swedish authorities; (ii) that the author had not applied for asylum either in Germany or in Denmark, indicating that he could not have regarded his situation in his home country as particularly serious; (iii) the Board found it difficult to