CAT/C/22/D/120/1998 page 10 “public official” referred to in the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to include “other person[s] acting in an official capacity”. This would include persons who, in certain regions or under particular conditions, actually hold and exercise authority over others and whose authority is comparable to government authority. 5.4 According to a general principle of international law and international public policy, international and national courts and human rights supervisory bodies should give effect to the realities of administrative actions in a territory, no matter what may be the strict legal position, where those actions affect the everyday activities of private citizens. In Ahmed v. Austria, the European Court of Human Rights, in deciding that deportation to Somalia would breach article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture, stated that “fighting was going on between a number of clans vying with each other for control of the country. There was no indication that the dangers to which the applicant would have been exposed to had ceased to exist or that any public authority would be able to protect [the applicant].” 8 5.5 In relation to Somalia, there is abundant evidence that the clans, at least since 1991, have, in certain regions, fulfilled the role, or exercised the semblance, of an authority that is comparable to government authority. These clans, in relation to their regions, have prescribed their own laws and law enforcement mechanisms and have provided their own education, health and taxation systems. The report of the independent expert of the Commission on Human Rights illustrates that States and international organizations have accepted that these activities are comparable to governmental authorities and that “[t]he international community is still negotiating with the warring factions, who ironically serve as the interlocutors of the Somali people with the outside world”. 9 5.6 Counsel notes that the State party does not wish to contest admissibility on the basis of the non-exhaustion of domestic remedies, but nevertheless wishes to emphasize that the author’s communication of 17 November 1998 was submitted in good faith, all domestic remedies available to the author having been exhausted. The subsequent application by the author for special leave to appeal, which is currently pending before the Full Bench of the High Court of Australia, does not provide a basis for injunctive relief to prevent the expulsion of the author. Further, following an intervention by Amnesty International in the author’s case, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs stated that “[a]s an unlawful non-citizen who had exhausted all legal avenues to remain in Australia, my Department was required under law to remove [the author] as soon as reasonably practicable”. 5.7 As to the merits of the communication, the author must establish grounds that go beyond mere “theory or suspicion” 10 that he will be in danger of being tortured. As the primary object of the Convention is to provide safeguards against torture, it is submitted that the author is not required to prove all of his claims 11 and that a “benefit of the doubt” principle may be applied. There is sufficient evidence that the author faces personal risk of being subjected to torture upon his return owing to his membership of the Shikal clan and his belonging to a particular family.