- 159 - Communication No. 175/2000 Submitted by: S.T. (name withheld) [represented by counsel] Alleged victim: The author State party: The Netherlands Date of communication: 27 November 2000 The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 23 November 2001, Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 175/2000, submitted to the Committee against Torture under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the communication, his counsel and the State party, Adopts its Views under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1.1 The petitioner is Mr. S.T., a citizen of Sri Lanka, born on 3 January 1979, currently residing in a shelter for asylum-seekers in the Netherlands. He claims that his forcible return to Sri Lanka would constitute a violation by the Netherlands of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by counsel. 1.2 On 5 December 2000, the Committee forwarded the communication to the State party for comments and requested, under rule 108, paragraph 9, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, not to return the petitioner to Sri Lanka while his petition was under consideration by the Committee. The State party acceded to this request. Facts as submitted by the petitioner 2.1 The petitioner is a Tamil from the area of Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka. For two months in 1994, he claims to have worked for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an auto-repair shop in Killinochi. During this time he also took care of wounded and distributed food supplies.