5.7 The Court of Appeal, after holding an oral hearing at which the authors were present together with their public defence lawyer, found that the requirements for expulsion were fulfilled. In its judgement of 15 June 1995, the Court of Appeal lowered the sentences to five years' imprisonment and ordered that the authors should be expelled from Sweden after having served their sentences. The authors appealed the judgement to the Supreme Court, which refused leave to appeal. While still serving his five-year prison sentence, Mr. V.X.N. was found guilty of assault, gross assault and rape. Mr. H.N. was similarly found guilty of complicity in rape. 5.8 In December 1998, the Vietnamese Embassy in Stockholm informed the Ministry for Foreign Affairs that the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam had accepted the repatriation of the authors. 5.9 Following a petition from UNHCR in January 1999, the Minister of Justice stayed the enforcement of the expulsion order, awaiting the advice of UNHCR Regional Representative for the Baltic and Nordic Countries as to the compatibility of the expulsion with article 33, paragraph 2, of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, in accordance with which the protection against "refoulement" can not be claimed "by a refugee whom there are reasonable grounds for regarding as a danger to the security of the country in which he is, or who, having been convicted by a final judgement of a particularly serious crime, constitutes a danger to the community of that country." On 16 March 1999, UNHCR informed the Minister of Justice that the decision to expel the authors did not violate the 1951 Refugee Convention. 5.10 The State party further informs the Committee that since January 1999, Mr. V.X.N. has three times requested the Government to cancel the expulsion order, or to grant him a temporary residence permit. At the time of the State party's submission, two requests had been denied, and the third was pending. Since January 1998, Mr. H.N. has made six similar requests to the Government. At the time of the State party's submission, five requests had been turned down while the sixth was still pending. 5.11 The State party underlines that when determining whether the forced return of the authors to Viet Nam would constitute a breach of article 3 of the Convention, the following considerations are relevant: (a) the general situation of human rights in Viet Nam and (b) the personal risk of the authors of being subjected to torture if returned to Viet Nam. 5.12 The State party submits that when the Court of Appeal found, on 15 June 1995, that no impediments existed to expulsion of the authors, account was taken of the opinion of the Swedish Immigration Board that no obstacles of a general character existed to expelling persons who had fled Viet Nam. As for impediments of an individual character, the Board had found that the scanty information available regarding the authors' personal circumstances did not indicate that there was any impediment of such kind. In addition, on 21 May 1999 and 1 June 1999, the authors were interviewed by the Board at the request of the Ministry of Justice but no impediments to expulsion were identified as a result. 5.13 As to the general situation of human rights in Viet Nam today, the State party submits that according to various reports from international and other sources, such as Amnesty International, the United States Department of State and the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi, measurable improvements have been made in a few areas, although serious problems remain, particularly as to the enjoyment of the freedom of speech, assembly, association and religion. Arbitrary arrests and detentions occur quite frequently and prison conditions are harsh, but reports of torture of detainees are rare. Although there are reports of police brutality, there is no evidence that torture is practised regularly nor that prisoners are tortured. 5.14 The State party further submits that illegal departure from Viet Nam in the middle of the 1980s is no longer considered to be a criminal offence. The majority of the people who departed illegally at that time have now returned with the assistance of UNHCR. A large number of returnees come from the same part of Viet 137