CAT/C/22/D/103/1998
page 8
6.2
The Committee noted the information given by the State party that the
Immigration Board had stayed the enforcement of the expulsion order against
the authors, pending the Committee’s final decision on the communication.
6.3 The Committee further noted that both the State party and the author’s
counsel had provided observations on the merits of the communication, and that
the State party had requested the Committee, if it were to find the
communication admissible, to proceed to the examination of the merits of the
communication. Nevertheless, the Committee considered that the information
before it was not sufficient to enable it to adopt its Views at that stage.
Accordingly, it decided to request both parties to make additional submissions
within three months, with a view to examining the merits of the communication
at the Committee’s twenty-second session.
6.4
In particular, the Committee decided to request from the authors’
counsel additional information about the nature of S.M.R.’s political
activities after 1990 and the current situation of the other members of the
political group to which she belonged. Likewise, the Committee requested
clarifications from the State party and the authors’ counsel as to the
circumstances relating to the authors’ departure from Iran and entry into
Sweden, as well as their obtaining of passports. Clarifications were also
requested regarding the authors’ statement that Swedish police authorities had
informed the Iranian authorities about the illegal departure of M.M.R. from
Iran.
6.5
Under rule 110, paragraph 3, of the rules of procedure, the Committee
further requested the State party not to return the authors to Iran while
their communication is under consideration by the Committee.
Additional information submitted by the State party
7.1
In response to the Committee’s request regarding the circumstances of
the authors’ departure from Iran, entry into Sweden and obtaining of
passports, the State party submits that the information it provided is based
on the authors’ own statements to Swedish immigration authorities. S.M.R.’s
passport was issued on 10 May 1993 with validity until 10 May 1996. She
applied for a visa in January 1995 in order for her and her two children to
visit her brother in Sweden. They were granted entry visas valid for 30 days
with departure from Sweden not later than 17 September 1995. She arrived in
Sweden on 21 July 1995.
7.2
S.M.R. has stated that she obtained her passport without difficulty. In
March 1995 she returned it to the authorities in order to have her youngest
child registered on it. After being informed that her name resembled the name
of a person who was not permitted to leave the country, she was requested to
report to the prosecution authority. The prosecution authority discovered
that her name was miswritten and decided not to return her passport to her.
When she applied for a new passport the authorities made it a condition that
she first travel to Syria. The trip was arranged by the authorities as a test
in order to prove that she was a true Muslim supporting the regime. The
authorities made it an additional condition that she turn in the certificate
of registration of title of her house before the trip. Her passport was
returned a week before she travelled to Syria with her husband and children.