CAT/C/35/D/250/2004 Page 4 1, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party was requested not to expel the complainant to Iran while his case was pending before the Committee. 1.3 By submission of 16 March 2005, the State Party requested that the admissibility of the complaint be examined separately from the merits. On 29 March 2005, the Special Rapporteur on New Communications and Interim Measures granted the State party’s request, pursuant to Rule 109, paragraph 3 of the Committee’s Rules of Procedure. The facts as presented by the complainant: 2.1 The complainant arrived in Sweden as a student at the end of the 1970s. He later applied for asylum and was granted refugee status on the basis of a declaration that he had been a Kurdish guerrilla soldier, had been shot, and had received injuries to his legs, among other reasons. 2.2 In 1981, the complainant began smuggling Iranians to democratic countries, including Sweden. For that purpose he founded an organization called “Solh” (peace). During the first year of operation, the organization smuggled 50 Iranians out of Iran; by the beginning of 1987, it had smuggled approximately 20,000 Iranians into Sweden. Those smuggled out were principally opposed to the Iran-Iraq war, i.e. soldiers who had deserted the front line or evaded military service, as well as Jews, and Muslims who had converted to Christianity. 2.3 Ever since his arrival in Sweden, the complainant criticized the Iranian regime in European and Swedish media. He published articles in national newspapers criticizing the use of particular types of weapons by the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq war. 2.4 On 29 June 1982, the complainant was granted refugee status, permanent residence, and a work permit in Sweden. In 1984, he was convicted in Sweden on several counts of forgery of documents and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. In 1988, when he was wanted by the Swedish police, his brother in Sweden informed the authorities that he had left the country in 1987. Consequently, the Swedish Population Office determined that the complainant was no longer resident in Sweden. In 1993, he was convicted by the District Court of Uppsala for aggravated fraud, forgery of documents and violation of the Aliens Act, and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. The District Court ordered his expulsion because he had allegedly visited Iran and lost his entitlement to protection. On appeal, the Svea Court of Appeal quashed the expulsion order but increased the term of imprisonment to four years. 2.5 On 10 May 1995, the Swedish Migration Board withdrew his residence permit as he was no longer considered domiciled in the country. The withdrawal was based on the fact that the complainant had left Sweden and failed to register his re-entry. In its decision, the Migration Board stated that the complainant had re-entered Sweden in August 1996, after which he had not applied for a resident permit. According to the complainant, this decision was arbitrary since it was taken without making investigations into his case, and without allowing him an opportunity to appeal.