CAT/C/37/D/286/2006
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sentenced to death and executed. The complainant himself does not regard Jews as human
beings. A fatwa was issued against him, which allowed his wife to divorce him without his
permission.
4.7 On 19 January 2005, the Migration Board rejected the author’s application for asylum
and a residence permit. The Board stated that the situation in Iraq was not such that there was
a general need for protection or that there was reason to grant residence permits on
humanitarian or other grounds. It considered that there was no oppression or persecution of
citizens by the central governmental authorities after the fall of the former totalitarian regime.
The Board also found it unlikely that incidents which had taken place nearly ten years earlier
would be associated with the author or attract any interest from people in general or religious
communions in Iraq. The Board considered that the complainant would be able to turn to
local authorities for protection if needed and concluded that he was not in need of protection
in Sweden. The Aliens Appeals Board, after assessing the general situation in Iraq and the
author’s particular situation, upheld the decision on 5 September 2005.
4.8 On 13 October 2005 the complainant again requested the Government to cancel the
expulsion order issued by the District Court of Norrköping and the Göta Court of Appeal. On
10 November 2005, his request was rejected. On 21 October 2005, the author was
conditionally released from penitentiary detention, but was taken into detention awaiting his
expulsion to Iraq. Steps were taken to carry out the expulsion on 17 January 2006.
4.9 Further to the Committee’s request for interim measures under Rule 108 of the
Committee’s Rules of Procedure, the Minister decided to stay the enforcement of the
expulsion order pending the Committee’s consideration of the case. The complainant
remained in detention due to his personal circumstances and to the risk that he would go into
hiding or engage in criminal activities in Sweden if released. The complainant challenged the
decision of the Minister of Justice to keep him in detention but the Administrative Supreme
Court upheld the decision on 27 March 2006. A new application for asylum under the
temporary wording of the 1989 Aliens Act was also rejected without having been considered
on the merits.
4.10 On the admissibility, the State party indicates that it is not aware of the present matter
having been submitted to another procedure of international investigation or settlement. It
also acknowledges that domestic remedies have been exhausted in this case. Finally it argues
that the claim that the complainant is at risk of being treated, upon return to Iraq, in a manner
that would amount to a breach of article 3 of the Convention fails to rise to the basic level of
substantiation required for purposes of admissibility under article 22, paragraph 2, of the
Convention.
4.11 On the merits, the State party contends that the communication reveals no violation of
the Convention. The State party refers to the Committee’s jurisprudence4 that the existence of
a pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such
constitute sufficient grounds for determining that a particular person would be at risk of being
subjected to torture upon his return to that country. Additional grounds must exist to show
that the individual would be personally at risk.
4
Communication No.213/2002, E.J.V.M. v. Sweden, Views adopted on 14 November 2003,
para. 8.3