The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Meeting on 16 May 2000, Having concluded its consideration of communication No. 99/1997, submitted to the Committee against Torture under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the author of the communication, his counsel and the State party, Adopts its views under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1. The author of the communication is Mr. T.P.S., an Indian citizen born in 1952 who was seeking asylum in Canada at the time the communication was registered. He claimed that his forcible return to India would constitute a violation by Canada of article 3 of the Convention against Torture. He is represented by counsel. Facts as presented by the author 2.1 In January 1986, the author and four co-accused were convicted by a Pakistani court of hijacking an Indian Airlines aeroplane in September 1981 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Counsel explains that no violence was used during the hijacking and that the plane, which was on its way from New Delhi to Amritsar, landed safely in Lahore, where it was diverted. There were no reports that any passenger had been mistreated. The purpose of the hijacking was to draw attention to the general maltreatment of Sikhs by the Government of India. The author states that he was arrested within hours of the plane landing and forced to sign a confession at gunpoint. He also states that he was held in pre-trial detention for four years without access to counsel. It is not clear whether he claims to be innocent, but he argues that his trial was unfair and the ensuing conviction unlawful. 2.2 In October 1994, the Government of Pakistan released the author and his co-accused on the condition that they leave the country. The author states that he could not return to India for fear of persecution. With the assistance of an agent and using a false name and passport, he arrived in Canada in May 1995. Upon arrival he applied for refugee status under his false name and did not reveal his true identity and history. In September 1995, the author was arrested and kept in detention by the immigration authorities. He was later released on the condition that he reports once a week to a Vancouver immigration office. 2.3 At the end of 1995, an immigration inquiry was opened to determine whether the author had committed an offence outside Canada which, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offence punishable by a maximum prison term of 10 years or more. His refugee application was suspended. In the beginning of 1996, an adjudicator decided that the author had committed such an offence and, as a result, a conditional deportation order was issued against him. At the same time the Canadian Minister of Immigration was requested to render an opinion as to whether the author constituted a danger to the Canadian public. Such a finding by the Minister would prevent the author from having his refugee claim heard and would remove his avenues of appeal under the Immigration Act. 95