CAT/C/57/D/605/2014 unknown to him, about his cousin. He said that he did not know anything about the whereabouts of his cousin. 2.2 On 28 June 2012, the complainant arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka by boat. He was detained upon arrival. On 16 October 2012, the former immigration minister intervened in the author’s case under section 195A of the Migration Act 1958, allowing him to be released from immigration detention and granting him a bridging (general) visa while his application for a protection visa was being considered by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Further bridging visas have been issued since. 5 On 12 November 2012, the complainant made an application to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for a protection visa, which was rejected on 18 February 2013 as the complainant was not perceived to be a refugee to whom the State party owed protection obligations. The complainant appealed the decision of the Department to the Refugee Review Tribunal, which upheld the decision on 7 June 2013. 2.3 On 23 October 2013, the complainant applied for a judicial review of the Refugee Review Tribunal’s decision to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, which dismissed the application on 17 December 2013. On 30 January 2014, the complainant made an application to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to request ministerial intervention under the Migration Act 1958, which allows the Minister to grant a visa to an unsuccessful applicant if it is in the public interest to do so. However, the complainant’s request for ministerial intervention was refused on 26 March 2014. That decision could not be appealed further. 2.4 After the author had left Sri Lanka for Australia, the authorities visited his aunt, with whom he had been living, and questioned her about his whereabouts. The author claims to be a member of the Facebook group “Cool Tamils”, in which prominent members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam regularly make posts praising Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam activities and attempt to mobilize support against the Government of Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, the complainant does not claim that he is involved with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He left Sri Lanka as he knows he cannot get any protection from the authorities and he claims that there is no protection for Tamils in general in Sri Lanka. 2.5 The complainant claims that he has exhausted all available domestic remedies in Australia. He maintains that he should not be required to pursue further remedies in higher Australian courts as such litigation would take a long time to be finalized. The complainant also claims that the same matter has not been, and is not being, examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement. The complaint 3.1 The complainant alleges that the State party, by forcibly removing him to Sri Lanka, would violate his rights under articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. He submits that he is at real risk of being tortured and of suffering cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Sri Lanka, particularly at the hands of the Criminal Investigation Department, the Sri Lankan army or associated paramilitary groups, as he is suspected of being a member and supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He bases his fear of being suspected of having links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the fact that he is a young Tamil who has lived much of his life in the north-east of Sri Lanka. 3.2 In particular, he fears that he would be persecuted, harassed or abducted if returned to the north-east of Sri Lanka, since members of his family have been killed because of 5 GE.16-09596 The first bridging visa was valid until 9 January 2015. 3