CAT/C/37/D/227/2003 Page 4 was regarded as being responsible for their presence there. The complainant stayed in hiding until he left Bangladesh on 4 December 2000. 2.7 On 5 December 2000, the complainant entered Sweden and requested asylum two days later. He stated that he risked being sentenced to at least 15 years in prison because of false accusations if he were forced to return to Bangladesh. He also stated that he risked being arrested by the police and subjected to maltreatment or torture, and subsequently killed by the police as well as being executed by supporters of the Awami League. The complainant stated to the Swedish authorities that his health was very bad – he suffered from anxiety, lack of sleep, nightmares, difficulties concentrating and vertigo. He heard noises from the torture to which he had been subjected, and he heard his son crying. He was feeling such enormous pain after the maltreatment that he had difficulties in sitting still for any length of time. He also submitted medical reports, from which it emerged that because of anguish he suffers from headaches, vertigo, lack of sleep and, sometimes, respiratory difficulties. The complainant invoked reports by Amnesty International and the US Department of State, 1 which, he claims, support the conclusion that police torture of activists and political opponents to extract information and to intimate is often instigated and supported by the executive branch. He also pointed out that policemen who had been guilty of torture seldom were punished or dismissed from their jobs. 2.8 The Migration Board denied his application on 9 April 2001 stating that the complainant could not be regarded as a refugee according to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the Swedish Aliens Act of 1989. Firstly, the Board found that the complainant did not face any risks from the Bangladeshi authorities on account of his political activities since the BFP is a legal party; his political activities had taken place at a relatively low level and had been allowed. Secondly, the Board did not believe the complainant’s statement regarding the accusations against him, since it was not credible that he would be released, even by paying a bribe, if he were accused of several offences, new and old. The Board also pointed out that the complainant had had a passport issued on 14 August 2000 in spite of the accusations against him. Thirdly, the Board considered that the complainant had a chance in getting his case reviewed through legal procedures in Bangladesh, which could be considered to be adequate and impartial. 2.9 The Migration Board also found that the complainant could not be regarded as a person otherwise in need of protection in accordance with the Aliens Act, because the maltreatment he suffered in August 1997 and June 1999 was not permitted by the Government or the authorities in Bangladesh, but constituted acts of cruelty committed by solitary policemen who had taken the law into their own hands. The Board applied the same reasoning for maltreatment committed by supporters of the Awami League. Lastly, the Board found that the complainant was not entitled to a residence permit in Sweden on humanitarian grounds. 2.10 In his appeal to the Aliens Appeals Board, the complainant referred to the conclusions of Swedish doctors. One concluded that the police had subjected the complainant on two 1 The U.S. Department of State (Bangladesh: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices) and Amnesty International (International Report 2002; Endemic Torture since Independence (ASA 13/008/2000); Bangladesh: Torture and Impunity (ASA 13/01/2000); Amnesty International Press Release: Bangladesh: Politically Motivated Detention of Opponents Must Stop (ASA 13/012/2002), issued 6 September 2002).