CAT/C/66/D/846/2017 4,200 judges were dismissed through executive orders of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors and that some 570 lawyers were arrested. In addition, approximately 34 bar associations were shut down for alleged affiliation with the Hizmet movement. OHCHR also noted a pattern of persecution of lawyers representing individuals accused of terrorism, including members and supporters of the Hizmet movement. In other words, the complainant would not receive a fair trial if extradited, since the judges trying his case would themselves clearly not have the courage to acquit or release a person accused of affiliation with the Hizmet movement, for fear of being dismissed. The defenders of the accused in Turkey are subject to the same problem. 5.8 Regarding the argument that the extradition request is not political in nature because, according to the facts contained in the request, the complainant was involved in the attempted coup of 15 July 2016 in Turkey, and the assertion that he did not submit documents to the Court of Cassation proving the political nature of the extradition request, the State party does not explain how it was able to conclude that the complainant was involved in the attempted coup while, at the same time, arguing that the Court of Cassation cannot evaluate the merits of a case relating to an extradition request. The State party’s contention that the complainant took part in the coup attempt is simply unfounded as he has not left Morocco since March 2016 and was in the city of Tétouan when the attempted coup took place. In addition, the State party has not explained how the complainant’s previous activities in Turkey 4 might have contributed, at a remove, to the attempted coup. The complainant presents authenticated, signed testimony from an acquaintance who describes him as a religious moderate who has nothing in common with the description put forward by his country’s Government. 5.9 As to the claim that extradition and refoulement are essentially two completely different legal proceedings,5 the complainant responds that such a classification is incorrect in international law. Article 3 of the Convention places extradition and refoulement on the same level and gives them the same legal significance. In the spirit of that article, it is not the characterization of the proceedings that counts, but the actual consequences for the life, physical integrity and liberty of the person. The principle of non-refoulement prohibits extradition, expulsion and return. Like the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the principle of non-refoulement may in no case be subject to restriction. 5.10 As for the argument that the Court of Cassation cannot assess the worsening of the human rights situation in Turkey, which the complainant cites in support of his defence, the complainant believes that the State party cannot avoid carrying out such an assessment in extradition proceedings, even if the obligation is not set out in its domestic legislation. The Committee interprets article 3 of the Convention as a provision that imposes an obligation on the State party and the Committee to evaluate whether there are substantial grounds for believing that the complainant would be in danger of being subjected to torture if expelled, returned or extradited. In this regard, all legal means of assessing the risk of torture, including the assessment of the general human rights situation in the requesting State, must be explored. The extension of the state of emergency declared in Turkey after the attempted coup of July 2016 has led to serious violations of the human rights of hundreds of thousands of people, some of whom have been tortured, as denounced by OHCHR in a report issued on 20 March 2018. These violations include torture and other forms of illtreatment, arbitrary detention, arbitrary deprivation of the right to work and the right to freedom of movement, and violations of freedom of association and expression. 5.11 Such serious human rights violations against persons involved in the coup have continued, even after their death. The complainant points out that once they have been executed, they are buried in a so-called traitors’ cemetery, set up near Istanbul. He adds that 4 5 GE.19-10782 Belonging to the Makiad businessmen’s association and the Battalgazi educational foundation in Malatya, traveling abroad for meetings, belonging to the Hizmet movement and having books by Fethullah Gülen in his home. Extradition relates to persons who have committed a crime under the ordinary law of the requesting State and have fled from its justice system while refoulement relates to persons whose administrative status is irregular. 7