there anything to suggest that the assessment was made against the criterion of
“foreseeable, real and personal risk”. The State party is therefore of the view that the
conclusion proposed in the letter can only be of limited significance in assessing the
case at hand. In addition, the State party submits that reports from, among others,
Amnesty International in fact form part of the material available to the Swedish
immigration authorities in their decision-making process.
4.10 On the complainant’s suggestion that in addition to the Al-Nadha association
he risks arrest and torture for having entered Sweden with a fraudulent Tunisian
passport, the State party responds that, firstly, the Board was of the opinion that the
complainant had not falsified his passport. Secondly, there is nothing to indicate that,
even if the complainant were charged in
Tunisia with falsifying his passport, he would necessarily be subjected to ill-treatment
or torture. Thirdly, no information has been provided to indicate that the Tunisian
authorities would know if the complainant were in possession of an illegal passport.
4.11 In light of all the above arguments, the State party doubts the general veracity
of the complainant’s claims. In its view the complainant should not be granted the
benefit of the doubt, without providing additional details and evidence.5
4.12 The State party does not deny that the human rights situation generally in
Tunisia is “far from ideal”, and makes reference to the Amnesty International report
of 2001 and the United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights
Practices for 2000. It leaves it up to the Committee to decide whether this constitutes
a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant and mass violations of human rights.
4.13 With respect to a possible expulsion to Saudi Arabia, the State party notes that
the complainant has not claimed that he is wanted there or would be subject to arrest
and torture there. However, the State party submits that the complainant must prove
that there is also a foreseeable, real and personal risk that he would be returned from
Saudi Arabia to Tunisia, where he claims he would be tortured. According to the
State party, foreigners are allowed to reside and work in Saudi Arabia provided that
they are sponsored by a citizen or a domestic business and have a valid residence
permit. The complainant lived in Saudi Arabia for 15 years and therefore must have
had some kind of sponsor. The State party submits that the complainant has provided
no information to indicate that his Saudi residence permit would not be extended if he
were returned to Saudi Arabia, nor that the Saudi authorities would hand him over to
the Tunisian authorities. In fact, he was granted permission to return there within six
months of his departure.
4.14 In response to the State party’s submission, the complainant contests the
version of the facts submitted by the State party. With respect to the State party’s
response to the letter from Amnesty International, the complainant refers to a further
letter provided by Amnesty International, dated 23 November 2001, in which it
confirms that the information it relied on in the assessment of the complainant’s case
was that “provided in the inquiry made by and the decisions taken by the Swedish
immigration authorities”. Amnesty also stated that it “has indeed made its riskassessment against the criterion of ‘foreseeable, real and personal’, as the organization
on numerous occasions has reported abuses against members and sympathizers of
Al-Nadha, as well as against other people accused of supporting the group”. Amnesty
7