CAT/C/53/D/470/2011
use of such practices.18 The Committee does not have information that this situation has
significantly improved since the change in leadership in 2013.19 In this regard, the
Committee takes into consideration ongoing reports of incidents of the detention and torture
of political opponents.20 The Committee considers that this is all the more worrying in the
light of the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran frequently administers the death penalty,
including public executions of political prisoners,21 and applies it without due process and
in cases involving certain crimes that do not meet international standards for “most serious”
offences.22 The Committee notes that the State party itself has recognized that the human
rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran is preoccupying.23
7.6
In the present case, the Committee notes the complainant’s claims that he was
expelled from university on account of his political views, that he was arrested by the
Iranian police and detained and beaten in a van during the 27 December 2009
demonstration against the regime in power, that his parents’ house was searched
subsequently on three occasions in that connection and that officials confiscated banned
publications therefrom, that he left the Islamic Republic of Iran illegally fearing
persecution, that the Revolutionary Tribunal summoned him, that he sought asylum in
Switzerland but his asylum application was rejected, and that he has adopted atheistic and
agnostic views and translated related publications into Farsi while in Switzerland. The
Committee notes the complainant’s submissions that those elements demonstrate the
existence of a real and personal risk of torture, should he be returned to the Islamic
Republic of Iran. The Committee also notes that the State party challenges the
complainant’s credibility based on factual discrepancies, the lack of details, and his failure
to prove the authenticity of the summons, for example by producing an arrest warrant in his
name. The Committee recalls its jurisprudence that such inconsistencies and lack of details
as may exist in the author’s presentation of the facts are not material and do not raise doubts
about the general veracity of the author’s claims. 24 The Committee further notes that it does
not appear from the material on file that any verification of the summons has been
conducted by the State party’s competent authorities. In addition, pursuant to the
information contained in the 2014 report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 69 per cent of Iranian detainees interviewed
stated that they had been arrested without warrants or after responding to a verbal summons
by intelligence services or revolutionary courts. 25
7.7
The Committee notes the State party’s observation that even if the complainant had
demonstrated that he had left the Islamic Republic of Iran illegally and that his asylum
application had been brought to the attention of the Iranian authorities, this would not be
sufficient to substantiate the risk of torture or persecution for him if he were returned to the
Islamic Republic of Iran. The Committee considers, however, that the information provided
by the complainant demonstrates that Iranian nationals who left the country illegally and
unsuccessfully sought asylum abroad face the risk of being subjected to persecution and illtreatment.26 In this regard, the Committee notes that the State party has not refuted the
complainant’s allegation that, on 22 July 2013, the Iranian Public Prosecutor stated that
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
12
A/69/356, para. 16.
K.N., F.W. and S.N. v. Switzerland, para. 7.6.
A/HRC/25/61, paras. 2, 4, 27–32 and 52–57; and A/25/75, paras. 7, 17–20 and 43.
A/HRC/25/26, paras. 7 and 43.
A/HRC/25/61, paras. 5 and 84.
See para. 4.4 above.
Communication No. 41/1996, Kisoki v. Sweden, Views adopted on 8 May 1996, para. 9.3;
and K.N., F.W. and S.N. v. Switzerland, para. 7.7.
A/HRC/25/61, para. 29.
See para. 5.8 above.