CAT/C/49/D/385/2009 The facts as submitted by the complainants 2.1 M.A.F.’s brother was a political activist against the Qaddafi Government who was arrested and sentenced to prison in 2001. After his brother’s arrest, the Libyan authorities confiscated the complainant’s house and ordered M.A.F.’s employer to dismiss him, accusing him and his family of supporting the opposition to the Qaddafi Government. M.A.F. was subjected to violence and torture during interrogations by the Libyan security forces in January 2001 and again in November 2002, when police broke his nose. Also in November 2002, Z.A. was shoved by police, causing her to fall and lose the foetus she was carrying. In 2003, another of M.A.F.’s brothers was arrested and imprisoned by the Libyan authorities. Both brothers remained in prison at the time of the submission of the complaint. On 4 May 2006, M.A.F. was arrested and imprisoned for two months, during which time he was subjected to torture. Z.A. suffered a nervous breakdown following his detention, and his children were no longer able to attend school, as the family frequently changed their place of residence due to persecution by the Libyan authorities. In March 2007, the Libyan authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of M.A.F., to be enforced prior to 1 September 2007. The complainants decided to seek asylum in a European country. They paid US$ 15,000 and 30,000 Libyan dinars to a high-ranking Libyan official working in the passport services, who provided the family with false passports under different names. This official travelled with the family to Stockholm, where he took back the false passports before returning to Tripoli. 2.2 Upon the complainants’ arrival in Sweden on 28 May 2007, they applied for asylum. Their application was rejected by the Swedish Migration Board on 10 December 2007. The Board noted that neither M.A.F. nor Z.A. had been politically active or convicted of any crime, and they were not able to describe the political activities of M.A.F.’s brother. The Board doubted the accuracy of the family’s travel route as stated, in particular their claim to have passed strict airport controls in Tripoli with a smuggler. Overall, the Board found that the means by which the family left the country showed that they were of no interest to the Libyan authorities, and concluded that their return to Libya would not expose them to a real risk of persecution, corporal punishment, torture or any inhuman or degrading treatment by the State authorities. 2.3 The complainants subsequently appealed to the Swedish Migration Court, which rejected the appeal on 16 May 2008. The Court found that the new elements of the complainants’ case which had not been raised before the Migration Board lowered their credibility and in some cases conflicted with oral information. These elements included a beating of M.A.F. by the police in November 2002, Z.A. losing a foetus, and a requirement that M.A.F. report regularly to the Libyan authorities following his release from prison. The Court questioned the authenticity of new documents presented to establish the family’s identity, which were based on copies. Information provided by the complainants on the situation in Libya was found to be general, and did not show that the family was at particular risk. 2.4 Leave to appeal to the Migration Court of Appeal was denied to the complainants on 30 June 2008. No further appeal is possible. The complaint 3.1 The complainants claimed that their forcible deportation to Libya by Sweden would amount to a violation of article 3 of the Convention. They invoked the pattern of gross, flagrant and mass human rights violations in Libya under the Qaddafi Government, including the systematic practice of torture by security forces. The complainants further claimed that they were at personal risk, as M.A.F. was previously tortured due to his family’s political activism. 3