CAT/C/55/D/571/2013 interim measures. By letter of 3 December 2013, the Danish Refugee Appeals Board decided to postpone the complainant’s deportation to Afghanistan. 1 The facts as presented by the complainant 2.1 The complainant was born in 1981 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He arrived in Denmark on 21 May 2010, together with his wife. On the same day, they were interviewed by the Danish National Police. As the complainant is illiterate, his wife filled out the application for asylum on 25 May 2010, in which she explained that her husband had been abducted twice by a group of “criminals” in Kandahar and in Kabul, Afghanistan, and that he had been subjected to torture on both occasions.2 She explained that the abductors demanded money for her husband’s release. 2.2 The complainant was interviewed by the Danish Immigration Service on 11 May 2011. He explained that he was first abducted by the Taliban in Kandahar for 22 days and was tortured (no dates are provided).3 Most of the time, he was blindfolded so he was not sure whether there were two or more abductors. He was hit with cables and burned with hot metal. He claims that every second or third night, his hands and feet were tied up and that he was raped by two members of the Taliban. He said that the Taliban wanted him to act as a messenger and distribute flyers in Kandahar and that they asked him to sign up to carry out jihad, including by carrying a suicide bomb. He said that he accepted to carry out jihad on the second day of his detention. The Taliban also wanted 100,000 US dollars from the complainant’s father in order to release him, as his family was well known and wealthy. His father gave the Taliban 20,000 US dollars and obtained his release. 2.3 The complainant and his wife went into hiding for 12 days in his father-in-law’s house in Kandahar before going to Kabul. After about one month and 20 days, he was again abducted by the Taliban, this time for 28 days, and was continuously beaten (no dates are provided). He said that he was hit unconscious and did not know where they had taken him. The Taliban again tried to make him sign up to carry out jihad. The complainant’s father paid the Taliban 15,000 US dollars for them to release him. 2.4 Following his release, the complainant and his wife went back to Kandahar to the complainant father’s house. On or about 26 September 2009, the complainant and his wife left Afghanistan for the Islamic Republic of Iran by car with a human smuggler who his father had paid to transport them out of the country. The complainant stated that he had to leave Afghanistan because he was afraid that he would be killed if the Taliban found out that they had informed the authorities about the second abduction. On an unspecified date, the complainant’s father complained to the police in Kabul about the second abduction. 4 1 2 3 4 See the information provided in the complainant’s submission of 24 March 2014. The complainant’s wife alleged that neither her husband or his family told her the full story from the beginning, since it was not the custom in Afghanistan to involve women in such matters. She learned about the whole story little by little and could not give precise dates as to when she received the information or about details of the events. She said that she did not know whether to write the Taliban or criminals in the asylum application, because she was confused about how to refer to the abductors. She did not get the details on the abduction until after she had filled out the application. The complainant stated that he was not hospitalized after he had been subjected to torture; he was treated at his parents’ home. A copy of photographs of the complainant’s bruises and burn marks from the torture is appended as Exhibit 3 to the initial communication. No further information is provided by the complainant as to how the police reacted or if they were willing to protect the complainant. The Danish Immigration Service apparently did not question the complainant about that issue. 3