CCPR/C/125/D/2439/2014 credibility concerns tend to arise and a rigorous and in-depth examination of the circumstances and genuineness of the conversion will be necessary”. 4.16 Having explained the elements taken into account by the Danish Refugee Appeals Board when assessing whether a conversion should be deemed genuine, 26 the State party points to inconsistencies in the author’s statements. In the proceedings leading to the decision of the Danish Immigration Service, the author declared that he was of the Shia Muslim faith and did not raise any issues about this faith or his religious affiliation. In his asylum application form, the author replied in the negative to the question of whether religious circumstances had contributed to his departure from his country of origin. The brief prepared by the assigned counsel on 14 January 2013, namely, two days before the hearing at the Refugee Appeals Board, which was based on an interview with the author, did not mention anything about the author having developed an interest in or having converted to Christianity. On the contrary, when presenting his statement of claim, the counsel submitted that the author was of the Shia Muslim faith. It was only at the Board hearing that the author declared that he had abandoned Islam following his departure from the Islamic Republic of Iran. 4.17 In his request to reopen his case and in his communication to the Committee, the author further elaborated on his statements regarding his conversion and submitted further evidence. When refusing his request to reopen proceedings, the Board took into account all his new allegations that he had developed an interest in Christianity already in the Islamic Republic of Iran, but had been afraid to search for more knowledge about Christianity because doing so could be fatal; that he had not attended church services until five months after his entry into Denmark because he did not know the language or the location of the church; and that he had attended Bible classes for four months prior to his baptism on 16 December 2012. 4.18 The State party also draws the attention of the Committee to the fact that public debate in Denmark in general and among asylum seekers in particular has focused considerably on the significance of conversion, typically from Islam to Christianity, to the outcome of an asylum case. It is therefore common knowledge among asylum seekers and other parties within the field of asylum that information on conversion is a ground for asylum. In paragraph 36 of the above-mentioned UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection, it is stated, inter alia, that “so-called ‘self-serving’ activities do not create a well-founded fear of persecution on a Convention ground in the claimant’s country of origin, if the opportunistic nature of such activities will be apparent to all, including the authorities there, and serious adverse consequences would not result if the person were returned”. 4.19 As to the claim by the author that there is a significant risk that the Iranian authorities will become aware of his conversion if he enters the Islamic Republic of Iran without a passport and is subjected to interrogation in that connection, given that the genuineness of the author’s conversion to Christianity cannot be accepted as a fact, there is no risk that the Iranian authorities will become aware of it when the author enters the Islamic Republic of Iran. 4.20 As to the documents submitted to the Refugee Appeals Board and to the Committee, in its decisions of 16 January 2013 and 25 November 2014, the Board examined three of the four documents that the author has submitted to the Committee 27 and three documents that were not submitted to the Committee. The two documents submitted by the author to 26 27 8 The Danish Refugee Appeals Board makes an overall assessment of the circumstances of each asylum case in which an asylum seeker claims to have converted, such as the moment of the conversion, including whether the person has previously shown an interest in converting, and the asylum seeker’s knowledge and understanding of the basic tenets, historical events and key figures of significance for the new belief (festivals, creeds, essential scriptures). Other elements include the external manifestation of the new faith (baptism, participation in church services or other activities, including classes and missionary work, declarations in the media) and the question of whether the asylum seeker has adhered to the new faith in a permanent and regular manner. The Refugee Appeals Board did not consider the notice to appear dated 6 May 2013, but considered three other, essentially identical, notices to appear addressed to the author.