CCPR/C/115/D/2366/2014
A and that he must have “managed his situation” with them. Eventually, the author asserted
that A may have had problems with the Bangladeshi police but he never thought to ask him
about that. In the Division’s view, it was illogical for the author not to inquire whether his
colleague still in Bangladesh was being targeted by police. Moreover, the inconsistencies in
the author’s testimony and the absence of any trustworthy evidence demonstrating that the
police were pursuing either the author or A, who together authored and published an article
on police corruption, further supported the finding that the author’s allegations of being
targeted by police were simply not credible. The State party considers that A’s letter (dated
5 March 2014 and submitted to the Committee) must be treated with the same level of
careful scrutiny. It strains credulity that members of the Bangladeshi police would not have
visited A as they had the author, or would have waited for the author to leave Bangladesh
before doing so. The State party submits that it is even more difficult to believe that the
author is only now being made aware of threats made against his colleague and co-author in
relation to the same newspaper article.
4.5
The State party observes that the Refugee Protection Division reached the same
conclusion with respect to the author’s allegation of being persecuted by local members of
the Awami League Government and associated thugs, again because of important
omissions and inconsistencies in his oral testimony or between this testimony and his
Personal Information Form. In the Division’s view, three elements were particularly
revealing. First, the author testified orally concerning an incident in February 2013 when
Awami League members and thugs descended on the home of his relatives, looking for
him; however, this incident does not appear in his Personal Information Form, which the
author had declared to be complete, true, exact and up-to-date as of the day of the hearing.
When asked about this discrepancy during the hearing, the author responded that it was an
omission or mistake on his part. However, the Division rejected this explanation, deeming
that it could reasonably expect the author to recall the February 2013 incident in documents
he filed on 26 June 2013 in support of his application or, at least, to recall the incident
before declaring his Personal Information Form complete, true, exact and up-to-date as of
the day of the hearing. Moreover, the Division determined that the author’s credibility was
further adversely affected when he again adjusted his testimony at the hearing to say that
there had been two “home visits” by Awami League members and thugs in February 2013,
one at the residence he shared with his wife and children (where they apparently continue to
reside) and one at his relatives’ home. Second, the Division identified mistakes in the dates
and number of threatening telephone calls the author claims to have received. In the view of
the Division, an experienced senior crime reporter such as the author could reasonably be
expected to be adept at recalling the dates and chronology of events. Even without focusing
on the precise dates of events, the Division questioned the credibility of a journalist of 14
years’ experience who could not recall if the threat from Awami League thugs occurred on
the same day as his complaint to the police or the day prior. Moreover, despite the author’s
suggestion by way of explanation that there had been “a printing error”, the Division
viewed it as highly unlikely that two separate newspapers could print the same error,
especially given the level of detail in the reporting articles. Third, in the light of the overall
lack of credibility of the author’s allegations, coupled with important inconsistencies
between the author’s Personal Information Form, his testimony and the supporting material
he submitted, the Division determined that many of these exhibits, including a letter from
the Crime Reporters Association of Bangladesh, were self-serving and had no probative
value in corroborating the author’s allegations that he was targeted by local Awami League
members and thugs. Concerning the author’s application for leave for judicial review, the
Federal Court’s stated test for granting leave is that an applicant must show that there is a
“fairly arguable case” or “a serious question to be determined”.
4.6
Second, the State party considers that the communication is inadmissible as
manifestly ill-founded because the author has not met his evidentiary burden of
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