CAT/C/34/D/233/2003** Page 5 organisation but an Arab- language publication. He also claimed that he had criticised Usama Bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban in a letter to a newspaper. 2.5 On 18 December 2001, the Government rejected the asylum applications of the complainant and of his wife. The reasons for these decisions are omitted from the text of this decision at the State party’s request and with the agreement of the Committee. Accordingly, it was ordered that the complainant be deported immediately and his wife as soon as possible. On 18 December 2001, the complainant was deported, while his wife went into hiding to avoid police custody. 2.6 On 23 January 2002, the Swedish Ambassador to Egypt met the complainant at Mazraat Tora prison outside Cairo. 3 The same day, the complainant’s parents visited him for the first time. They allege that they when they met him in the warden’s office, he was supported by an officer and near breakdown, hardly able to shake his mother’s hand, pale and in shock. His face, particularly the eyes, and his feet were swollen, with his cheeks and bloodied nose seemingly thicker than usual. The complainant allegedly said to his mother that he had been treated brutally upon arrest by the Swedish authorities. During the eight hour flight to Egypt, in Egyptian custody, he allegedly was bound by hands and foot. Upon arrival, he was allegedly subjected to “advanced interrogation methods” at the hand of Egyptian state security officers, who told him the guarantees provided by the Egyptian Government concerning him were useless. The complainant told his mother that a special electric device with electrodes connected to his body was utilized, and that electric shocks were utilized if he did not respond properly to orders. 2.7 On 11 February 2002, a correspondent for Swedish radio visited the complainant in prison. According to him, the complainant walked with difficulty but he could not see any sign of torture. In response to a question by counsel, the correspondent stated that he had explicitly asked the complainant if he had been tortured, and that he had replied that he could not comment. After the initial visit, the Ambassador or other Swedish diplomats were permitted to visit the complainant on a number of occasions. Counsel states that what can be understood from the diplomatic dispatches up to March 2003, is that the complainant had been treated “relatively well”, and that he had not been subjected to torture even if the prison conditions were harsh. 2.8 On 16 April 2002, the complainant’s parents again visited him. He allegedly told his mother that after the January visit further electric shocks had been applied, and that for the last ten days he had been held in solitary confinement. His hands and legs had been tied, and he had not been allowed to visit a toilet. At a following visit, he told his parents that he was still in solitary confinement but no longer bound. He was allowed to visit a toilet once a day, and the cell was cold and dark. With reference to a security officer, he was said to have asked his mother, “do you know what he does to me during the nights?” He had also been told that his wife would soon be returned to Egypt and that she and his mother would be sexually assaulted in his presence. Thereafter, the complainant’s parents visited him once a month until July 2002 and then every fortnight. According to counsel, the information available is that he is held in a two square metre cell, which is artificially cooled, dark and without a mattress to sleep on. His toilet visits are said to be restricted. 3 Counsel states that the following information concerning the complainant’s whereabouts and well-being originates from Swedish diplomatic sources, the complainant’s parents, a Swedish radio reporter and the complainant’s Egyptian attorney.