CAT/C/49/D/464/2011
one of his brothers was detained when the mujahideen were in power, and that he has not
been seen again. His village of origin, Chaparhar, is associated with terrorist activities.
2.2
The complainant and his family were threatened by the Taliban. Around 2006 or
2007, his house was hit by missiles, which caused the death of his father and brother. The
Taliban accused his family of being spies for the Government. He was forced to flee his
hometown for Jalalabad, the capital of the province. In early 2010 he was working on a
road construction project when the Taliban came and detained him and other persons who
were with him. He was tied up and beaten with sticks and rifle butts. He gave the Taliban a
false name, since his family name was known to them due to his father’s and brother’s
previous problems with Hezb-e-Islami. He agreed to collaborate in the future with the
Taliban since he had no other choice. He was left tied to a tree and with three ribs broken.
He did not return to his work because he feared being sought out again by the Taliban.
2.3
Subsequently, he worked in Jalalabad as bricklayer. One day, while he was finishing
his work, there was an explosion. Afterwards, he and four of his colleagues were detained
by the police and he was wrongly accused of having participated in a terrorist bombing
attack in Jalalabad. He was detained for two days and questioned three times a day. The
four colleagues were released after one day. He was kept because he spoke Pashto and
came from a village where many Taliban came from. During his detention, he was again illtreated, kicked and beaten with pieces of wood and rifle butts. His hands and one leg were
injured. With the assistance of his wife’s uncle, he was able to bribe the police and escaped
from the prison during the night. The policemen told him to leave Afghanistan, otherwise
he would be murdered. They were afraid that he would tell someone about the bribe.
Afterwards, he drove a minibus to Peshawar in Pakistan. He stayed in Pakistan for two
weeks before travelling in vans and trucks through the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey,
Greece and Italy. He was in possession of a Pakistani passport at his departure, but it was
seized in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
2.4
The complainant arrived in Denmark on 25 July 2010, without valid travel
documents, and applied for asylum the next day. Since he was illiterate he could not
complete the asylum application form by himself. He claimed that he was fleeing from the
Taliban and the Afghan authorities. He had been detained by the Taliban and then arrested
by the authorities and wrongly accused of a terrorist bombing attack; while in detention he
had been ill-treated and tortured in such a way that some of his ribs had been broken. He
added that torture was widespread in Afghanistan, and that the authorities were unable to
protect the population from the Taliban’s violence. He feared for his life since he had been
arrested by the authorities in connection with an explosion in Jalalabad, he had been forced
by the Taliban to cooperate with them, and he had escaped from prison after paying a bribe.
If re-arrested, he would be subjected to torture and killed. He feared the same if the Taliban
were to find him, since they still believed that he was a spy for the Government. The
complainant was not aware of the whereabouts of his family and could not provide a
nationality certificate issued by his country of origin.
2.5
On 28 October 2010, the Danish Immigration Service rejected his application for
asylum. It stated that it was for the asylum seeker to provide the necessary information to
assess and decide his request. However, his narrative was vague and, in several crucial
points, characterized by contradictions, such as the circumstances of his detention by the
Afghan authorities and subsequent escape from prison. The complainant appealed this
decision to the Refugee Appeals Board.
2.6
On 17 January 2011, the Refugee Appeals Board denied the complainant’s request
for medical examination, rejected his application for asylum, and ordered his deportation
pursuant to section 33, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Aliens Act. The Board accepted the
complainant’s allegation as to the incidents with the Taliban. However, it pointed out that
he was able to live in Afghanistan for at least one year without any problem with the
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