CAT/C/36/D/278/2005 Page 4 The complaint 3. The complainant maintains that the Justice and Equality Movement, to which he belongs, is opposed to the government of Sudan and that its members are systematically arrested by Sudanese security forces and sometimes tortured during their detention. He adds that torture and inhuman and degrading treatments is in the order of the day in Sudan, as denounced in the human rights report annexed to the complaint. 1 The complainant sustains that there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be subjected to torture if returned to Sudan, in violation of article 3 of the Convention. 2 State party’s submissions on the admissibility and merits of the complaint 4.1 By letter of 21 October 2005, the State party does not contest the admissibility of the communication. On the merits, the State party contends that there are no substantial grounds for believing that the author would be in danger of being subjected to torture upon his return to Sudan. The State party notes that it does not suffice that there is a pattern of gross human rights violations in Darfur to conclude that the complainant would risk being subjected to torture were he to be returned to Sudan and that a real and personal risk needs to be proved. The complainant has not, in the State party’s view, substantiated that he personally risks being subjected to torture if deported. 4.2 The State party notes that the complainant has spent his last eighteen years of life in the Former Yugoslavia and that his domicile in Sudan is his mother’s house in the province of Khartoum. Therefore, the State party considers that the notorious human rights situation in Darfur does not allow in itself to conclude that the complainant would risk being tortured if returned to Khartoum. 4.3 The State party further notes that, contrary to the complainant’s allegations before the Swiss authorities, he has not invoked before the Committee having been tortured or maltreated in the past nor has he provided any medical or other evidence in this regard. 4.4 The State party acknowledges that politically active JEM members risk being arrested and even subjected to torture. However, it notes that the complainant has not been able to specify the nature of his political activities in Sudan or abroad when asked by the Swiss authorities, who found the complainant’s statements regarding the assistance provided to Darfur refugees full of inconsistencies. These authorities also found that the complainant’s allegations regarding his detention and the way he managed to bribe the guard, recover the passport and escape, were not credible. The State party contends that the complaint merely contains general statements on the situation concerning JEM, with no direct link to the complainant’s own activities. Additionally, it notes that the complainant only mentioned that he was a member of JEM after his application to the Swiss Federal Office for Refugees had been rejected. 1 Amnesty International December 2004 Report on the human rights situation in Sudan. Attached to the complaint are two letters of members of the JEM German Office declaring that the author would be in danger of being tortured or killed if returned to Sudan. 2