CCPR/C/114/D/2329/2014
do not rest on any treatment that he has suffered in Denmark, or in an area where Danish
authorities are in effective control, but rather on consequences that he will allegedly suffer
if he is returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Committee accordingly lacks
jurisdiction over the relevant violations in respect of Denmark, and this part of the
communication is thus incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant. The State party
points out that, under article 1 of the Optional Protocol, the Committee has competence to
receive and consider communications from individuals who are subject to the jurisdiction
of a State party who claim to be victims of a violation of any of the rights set forth in the
Covenant committed by that State Party. Furthermore, extraditing, deporting, expelling or
otherwise removing a person who is in fear of having his rights violated by another State —
for example, his rights under articles 18 and 19 of the Covenant — will not cause such
irreparable harm as that contemplated by articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant. 7 Accordingly, the
State party submits that this part of the communication should be rejected as inadmissible
ratione loci and ratione materiae pursuant to rule 96 (d) of the Committee’s rules of
procedure read together with rule 96 (a) of the Committee’s rules of procedure and article 2
of the Optional Protocol.
4.5
If the Committee considers the author’s communication to be admissible, the State
party maintains that this would not disclose a violation of the Covenant. The State party
submits that the author is, in fact, trying to use the Committee as an appellate body to have
the factual circumstances that have been advocated in support of his claim for asylum
reassessed, and that the Committee must give considerable weight to the findings of the
Refugee Appeals Board, which is better placed to assess the findings of fact in the author’s
case.
4.6
The State party reiterates the findings of the Refugee Appeals Board, considering the
author’s account to be unlikely. In addition, the State party refers to the author’s statement,
when interviewed by the Danish Immigration Service on 27 August 2009, that he found it
very risky to distribute the flyers. Nevertheless, according to his own statement, he left a
book with a flyer on a table in the classroom, which was freely accessible to his teachers
and classmates. The State party considers that the author’s statement about his carelessness
with the flyers, even though he considered the task of distributing them a very risky one, is
inexplicable and contradictory. No matter whether the author had used the flyer as a
bookmark or had forgotten about the flyer in the book, his actions amounted to incautious
handling of the flyers. Correspondingly, it does not matter whether the author had driven to
school in his own car or whether he had gone by taxi and walked the last ten minutes.
4.7
The State party refers to the findings of the Refugee Appeals Board in respect of the
letter from the French branch of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, the author’s tattoo
and his Facebook activities. It maintains that the Board included all the relevant
information in its decisions, and that there is no basis for doubting or setting aside the
Board’s assessment that the author has not established that there are substantial grounds for
believing that he would be at risk of being subjected to persecution if he were returned to
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
4.8
The State party observes that even though the Danish police may present the author
before the Iranian authorities at the airport, such a procedure in itself cannot justify asylum.
The information that the author has applied for asylum in Denmark and that the application
has been refused is confidential; for that reason, it cannot be assumed that the Iranian
authorities are familiar with this information.
7
The State party refers to the Committee’s general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general
legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 12.
7