8.The Committee against Torture, acting under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, considers that the complainant has not substantiated his claim that he would be subjected to torture upon return to the Islamic Republic of Iran and therefore concludes that the complainant’s removal to that country would not constitute a breach by the State party of article 3 of the Convention. Note Complaint No. 191/2001 Submitted by:S.S. (represented by counsel) Alleged victim:S.S. State party:The Netherlands Date of complaint:20 September 2001 (initial submission) The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 5 May 2003, Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 191/2001, submitted to the Committee against Torture by Mr. S.S. 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 complainant, his counsel and the State party, Adopts the following decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1.1The complainant is Mr. S.S., a Sri Lankan national belonging to the Tamil population group, born on 27 November 1956 in Kayts (Jaffna), currently residing in the Netherlands and awaiting deportation to Sri Lanka. He claims that his forcible return to Sri Lanka would constitute a violation by the Netherlands of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by counsel. 1.2On 23 October 2001, 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 expel the complainant to Sri Lanka while his complaint was under consideration by the Committee. The State party acceded to this request. The facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1The complainant lived in the Jaffna peninsula from 1989 until 1995, where he worked as a karate teacher. He also gave lessons to members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but, although he sympathized with LTTE, he refused to give lessons at their military camps. When the Sri Lankan army took over Jaffna in late 1995, he fled to Chavakachchery, and thereafter to Killinochi, together with his wife and children. 2.2On 7 April 1996, the complainant’s mother died in Trincomalee, which was controlled partly by LTTE, partly by the Sri Lankan army. The complainant wanted to travel to Trincomalee to pay tribute to his deceased mother but was refused a travel pass by LTTE because he did not have anyone to vouch for him.a In June 1996, in return for free karate lessons for some LTTE members, he finally managed to obtain permission to travel to Mullaitivu - still located in the LTTE-controlled area - together with a guide. After staying in Mullaitivu for two months at the house of a fisherman, he travelled to the Trincomalee district on a fishing boat. He hid for two to three months with a Tamil in the Anbuvelipuram district of Trincomalee before he went to his sister’s house in the centre of Trincomalee in November 1996. 2.3On 13 December 1996, two days after LTTE bombed a Sri Lankan army camp, the army overran Trincomalee and arrested a large number of people, including the complainant. Everyone above the age of 12 had to stand in front of a temple where a masked man picked out the complainant and other men. The complainant was brought to a military camp in Trincomalee where he was detained for approximately two months. He was locked with four other men in a narrow cell with little light and a concrete floor and without any furniture. He was given one daily meal of poor quality. Since the cell did not have a toilet, the prisoners had to relieve themselves in the corners of the room, excrement being removed from the cell occasionally. Reportedly, the soldiers entered the cell regularly, especially following armed attacks by LTTE, to kick and beat the prisoners, sometimes asking questions at the same time. The complainant states that he was asked whether he was a karate teacher, which he denied. He and the other men were often naked or dressed only in underwear. Frequently, the soldiers poured water on them before beating them. The complainant was beaten with the flat of the hand, the fist, the butt of a rifle and a rubber rod. Once he was allegedly beaten on the soles of his feet with a round stick, causing severe pain in his feet for several days. Another time, he was put against a cupboard with his hands up and was hit on the back with a rubber rod, causing him chronic pain in the back which allegedly persists to date. He was punched on the eye, leaving an injury on one eyebrow. Soldiers also beat him on the genitals and on the kidneys, which resulted in a swollen testicle and blood in his urine. Moreover, he was allegedly burned with a hot stick on his left arm, leaving scars. The big toe of his right foot was severely injured when his torturers stamped on that foot with their boots. When the soldiers hit his right hand with a broken bottle and asked him “Aren’t you a karate teacher?”, he lost consciousness.b 2.4The complainant woke up in a hospital in the military camp where he stayed for a few days until an unknown Muslim man named Nuhuman managed to organize his escape. The complainant suspects that his sister had paid money to Nuhuman who bribed the guards in front of his hospital room. The complainant states that, together with Nuhuman, he was able to leave the hospital and the