CAT/C/34/D/233/2003**
Page 19
authorization from the complainant’s father as so excessively delayed as amount ing to an
abuse of process.
9.3
As to the State party inadmissibility argument grounded on Rule 107(f), the
Committee observed that this Rule required the delay in submission to have made
consideration of the case “unduly difficult”. In the present case, the State party had had ready
access to the relevant factual submissions and necessary argumentation, and thus, while the
timing of submission of the two complaints may have been inconvenient, consideration of the
present complaint could not be said to have been made unduly difficult by the lapse of 18
months from the date of the complainant’s expulsion. The Committee thus rejected the State
party’s argument that the complaint is inadmissible on this ground.
9.4
The Committee noted that Egypt has not made the declaration provided for under
article 22 recognizing the Committee’s competence to consider individual complaints against
that State party. The Committee observed, however, that a finding, as requested by the
complainant, that torture had in fact occurred following the complainant’s removal to Egypt
(see paragraph 5.8), would amount to a conclusion that Egypt, a State party to the
Convention, had breached its obligations under the Convention without it having had an
opportunity to present its position. This separate claim against Egypt was thus inadmissible
ratione personae.
9.5
In terms of the State party’s argument that the remaining complaint was insufficiently
substantiated, for purposes of admissibility, the Committee considered that the complainant
had presented a sufficiently arguable case with respect to Sweden for it to be determined on
the merits. In the absence of any further obstacles to the admissibility of the complaint
advanced by the State party, the Committee accordingly was ready to proceed with the
consideration of the merits.
9.6. Accordingly, the Committee against Torture decided that the complaint was
admissible, in part, as set out in paragraphs 9.2 to 9.5 above.
Supplementary submissions by the parties on the merits of the complaint
10.1 By letter of 20 August 2004, counsel for the complainant made additional submissions
on the merits of the case, providing additional details on the complainant’s retrial in April
2004. He stated that the complainant’s defence counsel was only provided with copies of
parts of the criminal investigation that had been conducted, despite a request to be able to
photocopy the investigation records. When the trial was resumed on 13 April, the complainant
was only able to speak to his counsel for about 15 minutes. The State called a colonel of the
State Security Investigation Sector to testify against the complainant, to the effect that the
complainant had had a leading position since 1980 in the Jamaa group, as well as links since
1983 with Ayman al Zawahiri, a central figure of the group. He further testified that the
complainant had attended training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and participated in
weapons training sessions. Upon cross-examination, the colonel stated that the Jamaa
leadership continually changes, that his testimony was based on secret information, that the
sources thereof could not be revealed due to risks to their lives and that he (the colonel) had
had a supplementary role in the investigation alongside other officers whom he did not know.
According to counsel for the complainant, the court in its verdict of 27 April 2004 rejected the
complainant’s request for a forensic medical examination made during the trial, but referred
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