CAT/C/46/D/310/2007
5.10 The complainant emphasizes that the State party has failed to refute that he had
violated the restrictions imposed on him by the Syrian authorities. This was also supported
by the fact that his father had been interrogated by the security service. His sister Georgette
Chahin, his niece Carolin Chamoun, his nephew Josef Chamoun and his uncle Walid
Chahin, all Swedish nationals and/or residents, were also interrogated by the security
service about his whereabouts during visits to Syria between 2003 and 2007. His nephew
was even subjected to ill-treatment during his interrogation.
5.11 For counsel, the complainant’s credibility is not undermined by the fact that he had
concealed his Syrian nationality and made contradictory statements about his arrival in
Sweden: It is common for asylum seekers and migrants to provide authorities with incorrect
information, whether on rational or irrational grounds. What matters is that he is a Syrian
citizen and that he was deported to Syria in 1997 and interrogated, tortured and sentenced
for a crime against Syrian national interests.
5.12 The complainant rejects the State party’s argument that his scars might as well result
from war injuries. The number of medical findings was 16 and that of torture symptoms 6.
It was more likely that those sequels resulted from treatment by a state security agency with
experience and knowledge in using torture as an interrogation method rather than by one of
the Lebanese civil war fractions. During the war, he had once been hit by a bullet causing
him a minor flesh wound.
5.13 The complainant maintains that his deportation to Syria in 1997 violated article 3 of
the Convention, and that another expulsion would violate the same article.
5.14 On 21 December 2007, the complainant submitted copies of the Swedish passports
of his sister and nephew, showing that they had travelled to Syria in 2005 and 2006,
respectively.
State party’s reply on the complainant’s comments
6.1
On 11 March 2008, the State party replied, reiterating that neither the deportation in
1997 nor the enforcement of the pending expulsion order were or would be in breach of
article 3 of the Convention, respectively. There were substantial differences between the
complainant’s deportation in 1997 and the Agiza case, where the Committee had found that
the Swedish authorities knew or ought to have known that Mr. Agiza, who had been
sentenced in absentia and was wanted for alleged involvement in terrorist activities in his
country of origin, would run a real and personal risk of being tortured if returned to that
country. Unlike Mr. Agiza, the complainant had never applied for asylum in Sweden but
was granted a residence permit based on his ties to Sweden. Had he been in need of
protection, he would have applied for asylum directly on arrival in Sweden, irrespective of
what the police had told him. The State party considers it unlikely that the police would
have advised the complainant not to apply for asylum given that he had only been granted a
temporary resident permit. Besides, the complainant was represented by a lawyer when he
submitted his applications for revocation of the expulsion order in 1993 and 1996.
6.2
The State party emphasizes that, prior to his deportation, the complainant had not
provided a wanted notice or any other evidence in support of his claim that he would be
arrested and tortured in Syria because of his participation in the Lebanese civil war. In
addition to providing the Swedish authorities with contradictory, incorrect and incomplete
information about his identity, he had provided the Committee with different unconvincing
explanations for those contradictions.
6.3
With regard to the pending expulsion order, the State party reiterates that the
complainant has failed to provide any documents in support of his claim that he would still
be considered a security risk and thus of special interest to the Syrian authorities. It
reiterates that he has served his prison sentence and performed his military service, in
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