beyond mere theory or suspicion. However, the risk does not have to
meet the test of being highly probable" (A/53/44, annex IX, para. 6).
8.5 The Committee expresses doubts about the credibility of the
author's presentation of the facts, since he did not invoke his
allegations of torture or the medical certificate attesting to the
possibility of his having been tortured until after his initial application
for political asylum had been rejected (paras. 6.7 and 6.8 of the
present decision).
8.6 The Committee also takes into consideration the fact that the State
party has undertaken an examination of the risks of torture faced by
the author, on the basis of all the information submitted. The
Committee considers that the author has not provided it with
sufficient evidence to enable it to consider that he is confronted with
a foreseeable, real and personal risk of being subjected to torture in
the event of expulsion to his country of origin.
9. Consequently, the Committee against Torture, acting under article
22, paragraph 7, of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, considers that the
decision of the State party to return the author to the Syrian Arab
Republic constitutes no violation of article 3 of the Convention.
Notes
1. The file contains a document dated 12 July 1995 certifying the
author's membership in KDP-Europe, based in London; the document
states that the author, whose name is misspelled, was a party member
and had "taken part in the resistance movement and in the struggle for
peace and democracy".
2. KARK appears to be a Kurdish academic and intellectual society.
The file contains the association's statutes and written testimony from
Mr. A. M., a resident of Lausanne, who on 6 March 1996 said that he
had visited the Syrian Arab Republic in July 1991 in order to collect
material on the human rights situation of the Kurds. He states that to
that end he sought the help of KDP-Iraq local offices. He was
accompanied on his travels by the author (whose name is again
misspelled), who had been introduced to him as someone who was
very active in the KDP-Iraq movement and who had therefore been
followed and arrested several times by the Syrian security services.
The author had told him that because of his membership in KDP-Iraq,
his life and the lives of his family members were in danger, and that