Submitted by:Mr. H.K.H.(represented by counsel) Alleged victim:Mr. H.K.H. State party:Sweden Date of complaint:26 March 2002 Date of present decision:19 November 2002 The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 19 November 2002, Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 204/2002, submitted to the Committee against Torture by Mr. H.K.H. under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the complaint, his counsel and the State party, Adopts the following decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1.1The complainant is Mr. H.K.H., a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran, currently awaiting deportation from Sweden. He claims that his removal to Iran would constitute a violation by Sweden of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by counsel. 1.2.On 8 April 2002, the Committee forwarded the complaint to the State party for comments and requested it, under rule 108, paragraph 1, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, not to return the complainant to Iran while his petition was under consideration by the Committee. The State party acceded to this request. The facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1While living in Iran, the complainant belonged to and worked for the political organization Cherikhaj Fadai Schalg. The complainant alleges that he was arrested several times between 1983 and 1988, suspected of illegal political activities. In or around September 1989, he alleges that he accidentally killed a revolutionary guard in the following circumstances. The complainant was having a relationship with a girl of Armenian origin. On taking a walk together in a park in central Tehran, they met a group of revolutionary guards. These guards “interfered” with the complainant and his girlfriend because she wore a Christian cross around her neck. The guards threw acid at his girlfriend’s face. When one of the guards threatened the complainant with a knife, the complainant managed to grab the knife and stab the guard. He and his girlfriend then fled. 2.2After this incident, the complainant hid at different places around Tehran. During this period in hiding, he was informed that the guard had died from his wounds and that his girlfriend had committed suicide. He was also informed that some of his relatives’ houses had been searched. On 26 October 1989, the complainant succeeded in leaving Iran illegally and arrived in Sweden, where he applied for asylum to the National Immigration Board (now Migration Board and hereinafter referred to as such). On 17 September 1990, the Migration Board rejected the complainant’s application as he had given contradictory information about his political activities. The complainant appealed his decision to the Aliens Appeals Board which rejected his application for similar reasons and refused to grant him refugee status. He was later granted a residence permit on the basis of a general amnesty for asylum applicants. 2.3According to the complainant, his mother was murdered in 1996. In his view, it is likely that the murder was a consequence of his actions. One of his brothers committed suicide in 1996 and another brother was killed in 2000. His two other brothers fled Iran and were granted asylum in Canada. The complainant also alleges that he received oral information that he has been sentenced to death in Iran. A representative of the Revolutionary Guard had told the complainant’s mother about the verdict before her death. 2.4In 1994, the complainant was prosecuted for drug smuggling. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and ordered deported, as he was considered a danger to the public. The complainant failed in his efforts to appeal his case to the Appellate Court for Middle Sweden and then the Supreme Court. The complainant alleges that his need for protection was not considered through this court procedure. The National Board of Corrections Institutions reduced the complainant’s sentence so that he would be released on 8 March 2002. 2.5On 10 January 2002, the complainant lodged an application with the Government arguing that the Court’s decision to expel him from Sweden should be revoked as he had the same need of protection as he had previously maintained in his claim to the Migration Board. In addition, he claimed that the contradictions in the information he had supplied to the Migration Board were related to the fact that he was suffering from the effects of torture which he had suffered during his arrests and interrogations in Iran.a Although the author provided information on further documents taken into account by the Government in assessing the complainant’s case, this information was provided to the author under the Swedish Secrecy Act and, at the complainant’s request, is not provided herein. 2.6In a decision dated 21 March 2002, the Government decided that there was no reasonable risk that the complainant would be subjected to torture if returned to Iran. On 10 April 2002, the complainant was released from custody by decision of the Minister of Justice, who decided to stay the enforcement of the complainant’s expulsion until further notice. 2.7According to the complainant, the use of torture is common in Iran. Police, the Revolutionary Guard and other security services frequently practise grave forms of torture, with various methods, during investigations. Torture is also used in the prison system after a verdict. In this regard, the complainant refers to reports of the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the