CAT/C/25/D/149/1999 page 11 The son also states that when his mother left she had told him that he had to leave school and hide with close relatives of hers in Baghistan. He received private teaching to become a veterinary surgeon and subsequently enrolled in University. On 25 January 2000 he was summoned to the university information office by the intelligence service, Harasar, from where two men took him to the Bonyad-e Shahid office in Tehran where he was detained, interrogated, threatened and beaten. He claims that the interrogators wanted to know his mother’s whereabouts and that they threatened to keep him and beat him until his mother came “crawling on all fours” and then they would “carry out her sentence”. The author’s son claims that it was during the interrogation that he fully realized his mother’s situation, although he had not spoken to her since she left the country. 7.8. In conclusion, counsel maintains that although it has not been possible to obtain direct written evidence, for the reasons given above, the chain of circumstantial evidence is of such a nature that there can be no reason to doubt the author’s credibility. Reference is further made to a recent judgement of the European Court of Human Rights dated 11 July 2000, regarding an Iranian woman asylum-seeker who allegedly had committed adultery and who feared death by stoning, whipping or flogging if returned. As in the case of the author no written evidence existed in the form of a court judgement, but the Court stated that it “is not persuaded that the situation in the applicant’s country of origin has evolved to the extent that adulterous behaviour is no longer considered a reprehensible affront to Islamic law. It has taken judicial notice of recent surveys of the current situation in Iran and notes that punishment of adultery by stoning still remains on the statute book and may be resorted to by authorities.”1 The Court ruled that to expel the applicant would be a violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Submissions by the State party 7.9. The State party made additional submissions on 19 September and 19 October 2000. With reference to the Committee’s request for additional information, the State party reiterates its view that the burden is on the author to present an arguable case. It maintains that the author has not given any evidence in support of her claim and therefore there are serious reasons to doubt the veracity of those claims. 7.10. With regard to the author’s alleged sighe marriage, the State party confirms that the law in Iran allows for such temporary forms of marriage. It further argues that although sighe marriages are not recorded on identification documents, such contracts should, according to reliable sources, contain a precise statement of the time-period involved and be registered by a competent authority. In practice, a religious authority may approve the marriage and issue a certificate. Given that the author claims that her sighe or mutah marriage was conducted by Hojatolleslam Rahimian himself and that no contract was signed, the State party has doubts as to whether the author entered into a legally valid marriage. 7.11. The State party points out that counsel in her last submissions to the Committee has included certificates and other information which have not previously been presented to the 1 Jabari v. Turkey (para. 40), European Court of Human Rights, 11 July 2000.