CAT/C/61/D/625/2014 Assessing the International Protection Needs of Members of Religious Minorities from Pakistan”, which includes Christians among potential groups at risk.9 State party’s observations on admissibility and the merits 4.1 On 26 February 2015, the State party submitted its observations on admissibility and the merits of the complaint. It maintains that the complaint is manifestly unfounded and therefore inadmissible. Should the Committee find that the complainant’s allegations are admissible, the State party submits that there is no supported evidence or substantial grounds for believing that the complainant would be in danger of being tortured if returned to Pakistan. 4.2 The State party describes the structure and composition of the Board. The Board’s activities are based on section 53a of the Aliens Act, according to which it addresses all the decisions of the Immigration Service that are appealed, unless the applications are considered manifestly unfounded. The Board is an independent, quasi-judicial body and is considered a court within the meaning of article 39 of the Council of the European Union Directive on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status (2005/85/EC). Under the Aliens Act, the Board members are independent and cannot seek directions from the appointing or nominating authorities. The Board’s decisions are final. Aliens may, however, lodge an appeal before the ordinary courts, which can adjudicate on any matter concerning the limits of a public authority’s competence. As established by the Supreme Court, the ordinary courts’ review of decisions by the Board is limited to points of law; the Board’s assessment of evidence is not subject to review. 4.3 The State party also describes the proceedings before the Board. Those proceedings are oral. The Board may, if needed, assign a legal counsel to the asylum seeker free of charge. The decisions of the Board are made on the basis of an individual and specific assessment of the relevant case, and the asylum seeker’s statements regarding his grounds for asylum are assessed in the light of all relevant evidence, including what is known about the conditions in his country of origin. In this connection, the State party attests that the Board has a comprehensive collection of general background material on the situation in countries from which Denmark receives asylum seekers, including information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the Country of Origin Information Division of the Danish Immigration Service, the Danish Refugee Council and other reliable sources. 4.4 As regards the legal basis on which asylum is granted, the State party indicates that, pursuant to section 7 (1) of the Aliens Act, a residence permit will be issued to an alien if he or she falls within the definition of a refugee outlined in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Pursuant to section 7 (2) of the Aliens Act, a residence permit will be issued if an asylum seeker risks the death penalty or being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in case of return to his or her country of origin. In addition, according to section 31 (2) of the Aliens Act, no alien may be returned to a country where he or she will face persecution in the terms established in the Convention. 4.5 The State party indicates that the fact that an asylum seeker has been subjected to torture or ill-treatment in his country of origin may be an essential point in the assessment made by the Board of whether the conditions required by section 7 (1) of the Aliens Act are met. However, according to the Board’s case law, the conditions for granting asylum cannot be considered satisfied in all cases where an asylum seeker has been subjected to torture in his country of origin. The State party refers to A.A.C. v. Sweden, in which the Committee considered that previous experience of torture is only one consideration in determining whether a person faces a personal risk of torture upon return to his country of origin, and that it must consider whether or not the torture occurred recently, and in 9 4 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Members of Religious Minorities from Pakistan, 14 May 2012. Available at www.refworld.org/docid/4fb0ec662.html.