CAT/C/32/D/229/2003 Page 7 wife, if the complainant had waited until the last day of the three-week period for lodging an appeal against the sentence and expulsion, as no additional week was available to the prosecution to file a cross-appeal in cases of acquittal. 7. In a submission of 9 October 2003, the complainant reiterates his argument in paragraph 5.1 above and submits that it was probably his lawyer who informed him of the prosecutor’s intention to appeal his wife’s acquittal if he appealed his sentence. Although his lawyer did not remember whether he had contacted the prosecutor on the issue, the prosecutor himself had not excluded that possibility in his statement to the Committee. Issues and proceedings before the Committee: 8.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Committee against Torture must decide whether or not it is admissible under article 22 of the Convention. The Committee has ascertained, as it is required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a), of the Convention, that the same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. 8.2 The Committee has noted the State party’s objection that the communication is inadmissible under article 22, paragraph 5 (b), of the Convention, as the complainant failed to exhaust domestic remedies. It has also taken note of the explanation provided by the complainant, and challenged by the State party, that his failure to appeal his sentence was explained by the fact that the prosecutor had warned him that he would appeal his wife’s acquittal, should he, the complainant, appeal against his sentence and the expulsion order of the District Court. 8.3 However, the Committee need not pronounce itself on whether the complainant was required to exhaust domestic remedies in the circumstances of the case, as his claim that he would be at a risk of being subjected to torture upon return to Iran because of his employment with the army of the Shah prior to the Iranian revolution in 1979 is pure speculation and fails to rise to the basic level of substantiation required for purposes of admissibility, in the absence of any corroborating evidence. The Committee thus concludes, in accordance with article 22