CAT/C/41/D/316/2007 Page 4 2.5 According to the complainant, these alleged attacks demonstrated the likelihood that he would be treated similarly in a US prison, which would amount to torture under s. 22(3)(b) of the Extradition Act. He also provided written submissions regarding prison conditions in California, including the high rate of HIV infection. The risk of him contracting HIV or hepatitis C was very high, due to the adverse publicity his case had received, rendering him more vulnerable to physical and sexual assaults. Furthermore, he provided documents as evidence of racial segregation and discrimination in the Californian prison system. 2.6 The complainant also claims that he risked being placed in solitary confinement, sentenced to death, despite the assurances given, and being subjected to a lengthy period of detention on death row. The District Attorney in California had specified that based on the facts, he would be seeking a First Degree Murder verdict from the jury for wilful, deliberate and premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of twenty-five years to life in prison. 2.7 The Embassy of the US provided diplomatic assurances on 28 February 2005, stating that, based on the information provided by the Deputy District Attorney, the US “assures the government of Australia that the death penalty will not be sought or imposed” against the complainant. A further assurance was given by the new District Attorney in California later in 2005, which stated that the District Attorney’s Office “will not seek to impose the death penalty on [L. J. R.] on the instant matter”. The complainant claimed that as it is the jury which makes a decision as to the death penalty, even without an express endorsement of the prosecutor or judge, the assurances were irrelevant. A ‘special circumstance’, namely that the murder was committed during an offence of kidnapping, means that the penalty in his case could be death. 2.8 The complainant indicates that he is a Hispanic-Muslim accused of killing a white woman in Barstow, a predominantly white conservative community of San Bernardino County, largely made of Anglo-Christians. There is also a large presence of the military in Barstow, as it is very close to the Yermo Marine base, where he and the deceased person worked. The accusations against him, including information on his previous military convictions, were given extended coverage in local newspapers, radio and television. Hispanics and Muslims are significantly underrepresented and systematically excluded from jury service in Barstow. Furthermore, they are discriminated against in the community and there is a systematic pattern of incitement for hate crimes against them. 2.9 The complainant claims that, while investigating the murder in question, the police searched his house. As the search did not yield any result, he was taken to the Sheriff’s station for questioning. He was then handcuffed, put into an unmarked police car and driven to a remote site where he was assaulted in order to obtain information about the murder. The extradition request indicated that there were marks of injuries in his body when he was arrested by the police and implied that such injuries where the result of the struggle with the deceased person. However, there was nothing in the autopsy report allowing the conclusion that such a struggle had taken place. 2.10 In support of his allegations that torture is widespread in the US, the complainant alleges that between December 1998 and February 2000, when he was in the Army, he was held in a military prison on counts of disobedience to the military authorities, and tortured. As a result, several military guards were reprimanded and one was relieved of duty.