when they took Mazar-el-Sharif, the author's city of origin, in the days after the incident the Taliban searched and arrested all males of Hazara, Uzbek and Tajik origin in the city. Moreover, since the city jail was overcrowded, thousands of the detainees were transferred to other cities in large container trucks holding 100-150 persons. In two known instances, nearly all the men in the container were asphyxiated or died of heat stroke. The complaint 3.1 At the time of the submission of his communication, the author alleged that he would be at serious risk of torture if he were removed to Afghanistan, and that the decision to forcibly remove him to Afghanistan would entail a violation of article 3 of the Convention. It is also submitted that no competent official of the State party has properly assessed whether there was a risk of torture. As a result, there has been both a substantive and a procedural violation of the Convention. 3.2 The author recalls that the specific prohibition on removing persons to where they may be at risk of torture is explicitly enshrined in article 3 of the Convention against Torture. In determining whether article 3 should apply, the Committee should base itself on whether there is a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in the country concerned and whether the author runs a personal risk, which may emanate from his/her class or character.(1) State party's observations on the admissibility and merits 4.1 In a submission dated 14 December 1999, the State party transmitted to the Committee its observations on both the admissibility and merits of the case. On the admissibility 4.2 The State party submits that the communication was inadmissible as the author had not exhausted the internal remedies as required by article 22 (5) (b) of the Convention and rule 91 of the Committee's rules of procedure. It underlines that it is a fundamental principle of international law that local remedies must be exhausted before a remedy is sought from an international body. This principle gives the State an opportunity to correct internally any wrong that may have been committed before the State's international responsibility is engaged.