CAT/C/34/D/233/2003** Page 12 4.21 As to the application of the Convention, the State party observes that the present case differs from most article 3 complaints before the Committee in that the expulsion has already taken place. The wording of article 3 of the Convention however implies that the Committee’s examination of the case must focus on the point in time when the complainant was returned to his country of origin. Events that have taken place or observations made thereafter may naturally be of interest in establishing whether the guarantees provided have been respected, and this bears on the assessment of the State party’s Government that the complainant would not be treated contrary to the Convention was in fact correct. But while such developments are relevant, the State party maintains that the principal question in the current complaint is whether or not its authorities had reason to believe, at the time of the complainant’s expulsion on 18 December 2001, that substantial grounds existed for believing him to be at risk of torture. 4.22 The State party refers to the Committee’s constant jurisprudence that an individual must show a foreseeable, real and personal risk of torture. Such a risk must rise beyond mere theory or suspicion, but does not have to be highly probable. In assessing such a risk, a standard which is incorporated into Swedish law, the guarantees issued by the Egyptian government are of great importance. The State party recalls the Committee’s decision on the complaint presented by the complainant’s wife where the same guarantees were considered effective, 11 and refers to relevant decisions of the European organs under the European Convention on Human Rights. 4.23 In Aylor-Davis v. France (judgment of 20 January 1994), it was held that guarantees from the receiving country, the United States, were found to eliminate the risk of the applicant being sentenced to death. The death penalty could only be imposed if it was actually sought by the State prosecutor. By contrast, in Chahal v. United Kingdom, the Court was not persuaded that assurances from the Indian government that a Sikh separatist “would enjoy the same legal protection as any other Indian citizen, and that he would have no reason to expect mistreatment of any kind at the hand of the Indian authorities” would provide an adequate guarantee of safety. While not doubting the Indian government ’s good faith, it appeared to the Court that despite the efforts inter alia of the Indian government and courts to bring about reform, violations of human rights by members of the security forces in Punjab and elsewhere in India remained a recurrent problem. The case law thus suggests that guarantees may be accepted where the authorities of the receiving State can be assumed to have control of the situation. 4.24 Applying this test, the State party argues that the current case is more in line with Aylor-Davis. The guarantees were issued by a senior representative of the Egyptian government.The State party points out that if assurances are to have effect, they must be issued by someone who can be expected to be able to ensure their effectiveness, as, in the State party’s view, was presently the case in light of the Egyptian representative’s senior position. In addition, during the December 2001 meeting between the Swedish state secretary and the Egyptian official, it was made clear to the latter what was at stake for Sweden: as article 3 of the Convention is of absolute character, the need for effective guarantees was explained at length. The state secretary reaffirmed the importance for Sweden to abide by its international obligations, including the Convention, and that as a result specific conditions would have to be fulfilled in order to make the complainant’s expulsion possible. It was thus necessary to obtain written guarantees of fair trial, that he would not be subjected to torture or 11 Ibid.