CAT/C/68/D/782/2016 5.5 Furthermore, as well as being ineffective except in the limited cases provided for by law, an application for revocation does not have a suspensive effect in Moroccan domestic law. Consequently, the Moroccan authorities are legally authorized to proceed with an extradition even if an application for revocation is pending before the Court of Cassation. That is especially true given that in a similar case previously submitted to the Committee, the Head of the Moroccan Government had validated an extradition decision handed down by the Court of Cassation by signing an extradition order even before that Court had ruled on a pending application for revocation, thereby confirming that it held the decision of the Court of Cassation as definitive and as having acquired the authority of res judicata.9 5.6 The complainant therefore rightly decided not to choose this avenue of appeal, which does not provide any guarantee of effective relief. Article 22 (5) (b) of the Convention provides, moreover, that remedies do not have to have been exhausted when they are unlikely to bring effective relief to the person who is the victim of the violation of the Convention. The complainant therefore considers that he has met the requirement of exhausting all available domestic remedies. 5.7 With regard to the merits, and the grounds cited by the Egyptian authorities to support their extradition request, the complainant submits that a sentence of life imprisonment for the commission of a minor offence, even assuming it had been committed by the complainant, is totally disproportionate and clearly points to the political nature of the proceedings to which he was subject in his country. It should be recalled that the complainant is a journalist and co-founder of an independent journalists’ union not recognized by the Egyptian authorities precisely because it is independent. 5.8 While journalists showing even the slightest hint of independence from the authorities were already being prosecuted and subjected to retaliation at the time when the extradition request was submitted by the Egyptian authorities, there has been a worrying deterioration in their situation since then. Egypt ranks 161st out of 180 countries in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters without Borders. At least 27 journalists are currently in prison in Egypt on account of their work.10 5.9 In addition, the authorities regularly disrupt the operation of independent unions by taking disciplinary action against some of their members and hindering their activities. In 2017, the Government proposed amendments to the Labour Act and the Trade Unions Act that would make it more difficult to establish or join an independent union. 11 Given the current context, there is no doubt that the extradition request issued by the requesting State is political in nature and that, in view of its real objective, the complainant is at risk of being subjected to an unfair trial. 5.10 The complainant maintains that he faces a foreseeable, personal and real danger of being subjected to torture if extradited to Egypt, bearing in mind the political nature of the proceedings against him and the fact that he is an independent journalist who is critical of the authorities. He refers to the conclusions adopted by the Committee at the seventysecond session of the General Assembly under article 20 of the Convention, in which it described torture as a systematic practice in Egypt. 12 5.11 The complainant then recalls the ne bis in idem principle. As the State party asserts, legal proceedings had already been brought against the complainant in Morocco, before the Casablanca criminal court of first instance, for forgery of private business documents, unauthorized and unlawful practice of a regulated profession, and affixing of stamps and seals that could be mistaken for the seals of a foreign State. 5.12 At the time of his arrest, on the grounds of the extradition request submitted by Egypt, the complainant was in possession of a press identification card issued by the 9 10 11 12 6 See Al Hashimi v. Morocco (No. 592/2014). However, the consideration of that case was discontinued because Oman withdrew its extradition request and the complainant was released by the Moroccan authorities. Reporters without Borders, “Egypt: Revolution anniversary amid new crackdown on opposition media”, 29 January 2018. International Trade Union Confederation, “Egypt: New Draft Trade Union Law Suppresses Freedom of Association”, 7 November 2017. Official Records of the General Assembly, seventy-second session, Supplement No. 44 (A/72/44), para. 69. GE.19-22535