CAT/C/25/D/149/1999 page 5 that it relies on the evaluation of the facts and evidence and the assessment of the author’s credibility made by the Swedish Immigration Board and the Aliens Appeal Board upon their examination of the author’s claim. 4.6. In its decision of 13 July 1998, the Swedish Immigration Board noted that apart from giving the names of her sighe husband and her Christian friend, the author had in several respects failed to submit verifiable information such as telephone numbers, addresses and names of her Christian friend’s family members. The Immigration Board found it unlikely that the author claimed to have no knowledge of her Christian friend’s exact home address and noted in this context that the author did not even want to submit her own home address in Iran. 4.7. The Immigration Board further noted that the author during the initial inquiry had stated that a Pasdaran friend had given her photographs of people in the Evin prison who had been tortured, which she had requested “out of curiosity” and which she gave to her Christian friend although she “didn’t know” what he wanted them for. The Immigration Board judged that the information provided by the author in relation to this incident lacked credibility and seemed tailored so as not to reveal verifiable details. 4.8. Finally, the Immigration Board questioned the credibility of the author’s account of her marriage to the ayatollah, her relationship with the Christian man and the problems that had emerged as a result of it. 4.9. In its decision of 29 October 1999, the Aliens Appeal Board agreed with the assessment of the Immigration Board. The Board further referred to the travaux préparatoires of the 1989 Aliens Act which state that the assessment of an asylum-seeker’s claim should be based on the applicant’s statements if his/her assertions of persecution seem plausible and the actual facts cannot be elucidated. The Board noted that the author had chosen to base her application for asylum on her own statements only and that she had not submitted any written evidence in support of her claim, despite the fact that she had been told of the importance of doing so. 4.10. In addition to the decisions of the Immigration Board and the Aliens Appeal Board, the State party refers to the UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, according to which “the applicant should: (i) (t)ell the truth and assist the examiner to the full in establishing the facts of his case, [and] (ii) (m)ake an effort to support his statements by any available evidence and give a satisfactory explanation for any lack of evidence. If necessary he must make an effort to procure additional evidence”. According to the UNHCR Handbook, the applicant should be given the benefit of the doubt, but only when all available evidence has been obtained and checked and when the examiner is satisfied as to the applicant’s general credibility. 4.11. In the present case, the State party first reminds the Committee that the author has refused to provide verifiable information and that her reasons for doing so, i.e. that she was forbidden by her friend to do so and that new tenants are now occupying her apartment in Tehran, are not plausible.