CCPR/C/128/D/3032/2017 unaccompanied Afghan minors in Sweden. On 23 December 2016, the Migration Agency rejected this application. The Migration Court also rejected the author’s appeal on 15 June 2017, as it was submitted late. 2.8 On 10 July 2017, the author submitted a second application claiming impediments to enforcement, indicating that staff members of the Afghan Embassy in Stockholm had learned of his Christian faith. He also claimed that while in immigration detention, he had been harassed by other Afghan detainees and some staff members for being openly Christian, and that some of those detainees had already been deported to Afghanistan. On 12 July 2017, the Migration Agency rejected this application, finding that his interest in the Christian faith would not attract the interest of the Afghan authorities or private actors and that his religious affiliation was not genuine. The author’s appeal to the Migration Court was rejected on 20 July 2017. The Migration Court of Appeals also denied a review permit or leave to appeal. The complaint 3.1 The author claims that his deportation to Afghanistan would amount to a violation by the State party of articles 6, 7 and 18 of the Covenant, because there is a real and substantiated risk of irreparable harm, even death, due to severe persecution of Christians in Afghanistan. He submits that, in Afghanistan, Christians and converts have been sentenced to long imprisonment for blasphemy, and members of the parliament have even called for the execution of converts. Furthermore, because the author belongs to the Hazara ethnic group and will thus be presumed to be Shia Muslim, he will be punished with death for apostasy. In this connection, he asserts that the migration authorities have failed to assess the risks associated with apostasy. 3.2 The author further contends that the Migration Agency erred in not finding his accounts to be credible because he could not give an eloquent theological explanation as to why he is a Christian. He emphasizes that he has not received any formal education and that certain statements during the asylum proceedings were incorrectly attributed to the author who was then found to be inconsistent. In addition, the fact that Christians are persecuted in Afghanistan was used against him, as the Agency concluded that, because of such persecution, the author’s account of his parents having lived as Christians in Afghanistan was not credible. Moreover, the Agency mistakenly demanded that the author demonstrate the thought process that one can expect from a convert, while the author in fact is not a convert, but was born into a Christian family. State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits 4.1 In a note verbale dated 2 March 2018, the State party submitted its observations on admissibility and the merits of the communication. 4.2 The State party submits that according to an official note by the Migration Agency, the author was encountered on 28 August 2014 in the city of Malmö, Sweden. He claimed to be an orphan, born in 1999 in Afghanistan. He was registered as a minor and placed in special housing for children. On 29 August 2014, the author applied for asylum and was assigned a public counsel on 18 September 2014. During an interview on 28 September 2014, the author stated that he did not know exactly when he was born, but that he knew that he was 10 years old when he left Afghanistan. A medical age assessment conducted by the National Board of Forensic Medicine estimated his age to have been at least 18.3 in November 2014. Accordingly, the Agency assessed the author’s case in accordance with the procedure applicable to adults. 4.3 The State party describes the procedural history concerning the author’s asylum application and subsequent appeals. It further explains that under the Dublin III Regulation, the Agency accepted the transfer of the author from Germany on 3 October 2016. On 12 December 2016, the Agency decided to place the author under supervision, pursuant to chapter 10 (6) of the Aliens Act, and he was placed in detention from 10 April to 14 July 2017. 4.4 With regard to the author’s application of 12 December 2016, the State party notes the claims therein that his Christian faith had been revealed in the media, as a Swedish 3