CAT/C/62/D/710/2015
of the interim ruling concerning the futility of his third application for asylum. The
Secretariat rejected his request for a review.
5.3
The complainant contested the interim ruling of 11 August 2015 by lodging an
appeal with the Federal Administrative Court on 11 September 2015. He requested the
suspension of the ruling of 11 August 2015, which had been negative on account of his
failure to pay the fees in advance. In his appeal, the complainant firstly contested the
assertion that his application for asylum had no chance of success and then highlighted the
real risk that he would face persecution and inhuman treatment if he were deported to the
Sudan. In the appeal that he lodged with the Court, the complainant set out all the reasons
why the Swiss authorities should examine the merits of his application for asylum.
5.4
The complainant argues that, according to the Committee’s jurisprudence, the State
party must have the opportunity to examine all the evidence referred to in article 3 of the
Convention against Torture before the complaint is considered by the Committee. 11
Consequently, the Swiss authorities must have had the opportunity to examine new and
significant evidence, namely the evidence of the political activities of the complainant
within JEM. The complainant indicates that he had expressed his fear of persecution on
account of his membership of and activities within JEM in his third application for asylum
dated 16 July 2015 and in his request for a review of the interim ruling of 11 August 2015
concerning the futility of his third application for asylum. In the appeal that he lodged with
the Federal Administrative Court on 11 September 2015, the complainant highlighted the
real risk of inhuman and degrading treatment and, therefore, of persecution that he would
face in the Sudan. The complainant detailed his activities as a member of JEM. In that
capacity, he regularly attended JEM meetings and public protests in different cities
throughout Switzerland.
5.5
The complainant recalls that he had been arrested in the Sudan and persecuted as a
political opponent. In view of the dangers faced by persons opposing the State in the Sudan,
the complainant would run a real risk of being subjected to torture, in violation of article 3
of the Convention. He argues that his deportation to the Sudan would constitute a violation
of that article.
5.6
The complainant states that he transmitted all available evidence to the State
Secretariat for Migration for it to rule on his application for asylum. However, the
Secretariat found his application to have no chance of success, which is why it asked him to
pay 600 Swiss francs in advance.
5.7
The complainant has submitted three applications for asylum, all of which have been
based on his activities within JEM. All three of his applications for asylum have been
rejected. The individual appeals lodged by the complainant have also been rejected by the
Federal Administrative Court. Consequently, the Swiss authorities have already ruled three
times on the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that the complainant could face in the
Sudan. The complainant notes that account must be taken of the fact that, as an
unsuccessful applicant for asylum, he is not entitled to work (Asylum Act, art. 43), that his
income therefore consists only of emergency financial assistance and that he receives only
5 Swiss francs per day. The complainant argues that he was not in a position to make the
advance payment requested and that, consequently, he has exhausted all the domestic
remedies available to him, rendering the present communication admissible.
The Committee’s decision on admissibility
6.1
On 5 August 2016, at its fifty-eighth session, the Committee examined the
admissibility of the complaint. In this respect the Committee has ascertained, as it is
required to do under article 22, paragraph 5 (a) of the Convention, that the same matter has
not been and is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation
or settlement.
6.2
The Committee notes that the State party contests the admissibility of the complaint
on the grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies. The State party has asserted that if
11
GE.18-01489
See F.M.-M. v. Switzerland, para. 6.5.
5