CAT/C/22/D/103/1998 page 6 Iranian authorities. The Board further found not credible her statement that she had travelled to the Syrian Arab Republic at the request of the authorities in order to prove that she was a true Muslim. The Board considered that this was rather an attempt to explain the departure stamps in her passport. 4.12 M.M.R.’s application for asylum was rejected by the National Immigration Board on 23 April 1997. The Board noted that his grounds for requesting asylum were connected to his wife’s political activities in Iran, activities which had not been considered of such nature as to justify her protection in Sweden. M.M.R.’s claim that he risked imprisonment for having left Iran without a visa was not regarded as grounds for granting him protection. 4.13 The Aliens Appeal Board turned down his appeal on 27 October 1997. The Board noted that in September 1996, after the alleged detention in August 1995, he obtained a valid passport and permission to leave the country. Therefore, the Board concluded, he was not at that time of special interest to the Iranian authorities. The Board also noted that, when entering Sweden, he had stated that he had not experienced any problems of a political nature in Iran. 4.14 The State party reiterates that it does not question S.M.R.’s statement in respect of imprisonment and ill-treatment in the past. What is called into question is whether S.M.R. has been politically active since 1991 in the manner claimed by her and therefore at risk of being tortured if she returns to Iran at this time. In this context, the State party points out several circumstances and elements in the authors’ account which give rise to doubts as to S.M.R.’s alleged political activities during recent years. 4.15 Firstly, the State party asserts that, according to reliable information available to the Government, the Mujahedin has for many years been operating from outside Iran only. Production and distribution of leaflets for the Mujahedin within Iran consequently does not occur. Due to this circumstance alone, S.M.R.’s statement concerning her political activities is not credible. 4.16 The State party also underlines the findings of the National Immigration Board and the Aliens Appeal Board as to the authors’ possession of passports. S.M.R. was in possession of a valid national passport and visa when entering Sweden. She obtained a passport in 1993 and had, according to the stamps in it, left Iran on several occasions before travelling to Sweden. In the initial investigation following her application for asylum, S.M.R. stated that she had turned in her passport to the authorities in 1995 in order to have her youngest child registered in it. She further stated that when she applied for a new passport she was requested by the authorities to travel to Syria in order to prove that she was a true Muslim. The State party finds, in accordance with the findings of the Boards, that this statement is not credible but rather a construction devised to explain the departure stamps in her passport. These circumstances contradict the assertion that she was of special interest to the Iranian authorities at the time of her departure. The State party also underlines the facts that M.M.R., after he had allegedly been detained in August 1995, stayed in Iran for more than a year, that he had obtained a valid passport and that he declared, when entering Sweden, that he did not have any problems of a political character in Iran.