CAT/C/34/D/233/2003** Page 27 it ought to be a common interest for Sweden and Egypt to look into those allegations and asked the Deputy Minister to use his influence with the Egyptian authorities in favour of the Swedish position. The Deputy Minister assured her that he would raise the issue upon his return to Cairo. 12.10 The State party also points out that the issue of an international inquiry was raised with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, when she visited Stockholm in December 2004. On that occasion, Ms. Freivalds made clear that the Swedish Government would welcome any efforts that might be undertaken by the High Commissioner to investigate the allegations that the complainant had been subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment while in detention in Egypt. The State party also observes that the investigation initiated by the Swedish Chief Parliamentary Ombudsman into the circumstances surrounding the execution of the Government’s decision to expel the compla inant from Sweden has not yet concluded. 12.11 The State party recalls that already in May 2004, counsel for the complainant provided the Committee with a written account of the embassy’s report of its first visit on 23 January 2002 to the complainant after his return to Egypt. A copy of the report was submitted by counsel to the Committee in August 2004. In the State party’s view, therefore, the Committee had thus been provided with all the information of relevance for its examination of the present case. Prior to explaining the fact that the report was not fully accounted for by the Government in its initial observations of 5 December 2003, the State party provides the following translation of the relevant portion of the Ambassador’s report: “Agiza and [name of another person] had just been transferred to the Torah prison after having been interrogated for thirty days at the security service’s facilities in another part of Cairo. Their treatment in the Torah prison was “excellent”. However, they had a numb er of complaints that related to the time period between their apprehension in Sweden and the transfer to the Torah: excessive brutality on the part of the Swedish police when they were apprehended; forced to remain in uncomfortable positions in the airplane during the transport to Egypt; forced to be blindfolded during the interrogation period; detention in too small cells 1.5 x 1.5 meters during the same period; lack of sleep due to surveillance in the cells; a delay of ten days before Agiza, following a medical examination, had access again to his medication for gastric ulcer; blows from guards while transported to and from interrogation; threats from interrogator that there could be consequences for Agiza’s family if he did not tell everything about his time in Iran etc. It is not possible for me to assess the veracity of these claims. However, I am able to note that the two men did not, not even on my direct questions, in any way claim that they had been subjected to any kind of systematic, physical torture and that they consider themselves to be well treated in the Torah prison.” 12.12 The State party argues that it has been aware of difficulties experienced by the Committee in the past with regard to upholding respect for the confidentiality of its proceedings. For that reason, the State party formulated its submissions with great care when they involved the unveiling of information that has been classified under the Swedish Secrecy Act. For the State party, it was a question of balancing the need to reveal information in order to provide the Committee with the correct factual basis for the proper administration of justice, on the one hand, and the need to protect the integrity of Sweden’s relations with foreign powers, the interests of national security and the security and safety of individuals, on the other. 12.13 The State party argues that its position in this regard should be seen against the background of the experience gained from the proceedings relating to the case of Hanan

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