CAT/C/58/D/682/2015 instituted on the sole basis of the extradition request and allegations of the Saudi authorities, as is made absolutely clear in the judgment handed down by the Syrian court. 2 2.6 On 3 February 2015, Mr. Alhaj Ali’s lawyer sent an application for review of the decision of the Court of Cassation in Rabat, which rules at last instance, to the Minister of Justice, in accordance with articles 566 (4) and 567 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Minister dismissed the request, however, on the grounds that the application was unfounded. First request for extradition to Saudi Arabia and conviction in the Syrian Arab Republic 2.7 As mentioned by his lawyers before the Court of Appeal in Rabat, Mr. Alhaj Ali had already been prosecuted in 2007 for the same acts that formed the basis of the extradition request sent to the Government of Morocco. In response to the first extradition request by Saudi Arabia, the Syrian authorities had arrested Mr. Alhaj Ali and sentenced him to 3 months’ imprisonment for the acts of which he was accused in Saudi Arabia, even though he had provided proof that there was no material evidence to justify the request by the Saudi authorities. 2.8 Mr. Alhaj Ali had taken up residence in Saudi Arabia in 2007 in order to establish a hotel services company. As required by Saudi legislation, he had ceded a 51 per cent stake in the business to a Saudi sponsor (kafil). 2.9 When Mr. Alhaj Ali decided to return to his country of origin, his sponsor gave him a certificate attesting that he had no outstanding financial obligations towards him. Nevertheless, his sponsor subsequently lodged a criminal complaint against him. 3 The extradition committee within the Syrian Ministry of Justice, while rejecting the extradition request submitted by the Saudi authorities on the basis of the complaint, ordered him to appear before a Syrian criminal court, which sentenced him to 3 months’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of 100 Syrian pounds. 4 He served his sentence and was released on 6 September 2007. 2.10 The second extradition request by the Saudi authorities, submitted on the basis of the same acts, was therefore completely unjustified and should clearly have been rejected by the Moroccan Court of Cassation in accordance with the ne bis in idem principle. History of persecution and torture in the Syrian Arab Republic 2.11 During the popular uprisings in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2011, Mr. Alhaj Ali, who was living in rural Damascus at the time, participated actively in the peaceful protests that broke out in the country, which led to his being sought by the Syrian security services. 2.12 On 15 April 2013, Mr. Alhaj Ali was arrested without a warrant by members of Air Force Intelligence and taken to a secret detention centre, where he was held for three months without legal process and subjected to severe torture. He claims to have been interrogated and tortured at length, including by being beaten, suspended head down by his feet for several hours and electrocuted. After finally being released on 17 July 2013, the victim, who suffers from physical and psychological sequelae to this day, continued to be persecuted and to receive threats, including threats to his family, which forced him, along with millions of other Syrian nationals, to flee the country. He settled in Morocco, where he requested asylum with his wife and children. 2 3 4 GE.16-15793 The complainant attaches the relevant decision, which was adopted by the Twelfth Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Damascus on 31 March 2009. Attached to the file. Decision attached to the file. 3