CAT/C/41/D/323/2007 page 5 4.2 The State party also maintains that the complaint is inadmissible because the complainant has failed to exhaust domestic remedies, having never attempted to initiate proceedings in Spain. It reports that proceedings relating to this matter are taking place at the national level, having been instituted by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Assistance (CEAR), which was duly authorized to do so by the alleged victims; these proceedings led to the filing of an application for the remedy of administrative litigation on 5 March 2007, a decision on which is currently pending in the National High Court. 4.3 The State party maintains that the complainant’s account of the incidents is biased and tendentious. It denies that detainees were “piled on top of each other” in the Nouadhibou detention facility, and it maintains that the vessel in which the detainees were found was spacious and adequate for an extended stay. It adds that the 369 immigrants on board the Marine I were in very poor hygiene (scabies) and health (dehydration and disease) when they were rescued in international waters, and that they received emergency humanitarian and medical treatment on board the ship. 4.4 The State party points out that its actions were at all times consistent with the SOLAS and SAR Conventions,2 and that it was Senegal, the State in whose area of responsibility for rescue at sea the vessel was located, that authorized their transfer to the nearest port, which happened to be Nouadhibou, Mauritania. The emergency diplomatic agreement concluded with the Mauritanian authorities allowed Spain to provide technical support to Mauritania in the form of humanitarian and medical assistance. 4.5 The State party notes that both the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) participated in the identification and repatriation of the persons on board the Marine I, and that both of these organizations commended the Spanish Government on the way it had handled the situation. It points out that during the identification of the persons on board the vessel, IOM informed each of the interviewees individually of their right to request asylum and refugee status. Those interviewees who believed that they fell into one of the categories established under asylum and refugee law were taken to the Canary Islands for a decision by the Spanish Government; there they were again interviewed by representatives of UNHCR. 4.6 The State party points out that both IOM and the identification missions from India and Pakistan sought to interview the 23 alleged victims on numerous occasions and that the latter objected to such interviews. According to statements by the UNHCR spokesperson in Spain, a team of lawyers from the Office met with the 23 immigrants; UNHCR subsequently issued a communiqué through the team stating that the interviewees’ profile was not strong enough to warrant their being granted refugee status and that they had not given sufficient evidence to indicate that their lives would be in danger if they returned to their countries of origin. On 20 April 2007, the High Commissioner for Refugees addressed a letter to the President of the Government of Spain affirming that “[there was] no one in this group who [required] international protection”. 2 The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS Convention) and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979 (SAR Convention).