CAT/C/31/D/153/2000 Page 6 4.5 As to the publication of the judgment of the Federal Court of Australia, the State party denies that this might prompt the Algerian authorities to torture the complainant upon his return to Algeria. There is no evidence to suggest that the Algerian authorities have shown any interest in the complainant’s activities since 1992, when he claims to have been arrested and detained for 45 minutes. The State party notes that the suggestion that the Algerian authorities would be scanning internet legal databases in Australia to determine his whereabouts, strains credulity. For the State party, it is highly unlikely that that the publication, on Internet, to refuse him a protection visa would have come to the Algerian authorities’ attention. Accordingly, there are no substantial grounds for believing that the complainant is in danger of torture on this count. 4.6 The State party concedes that DIMA had noted that the author’s relatives who had experienced harm or mistreatment had been active members of the FIS or Islamic clerics, but his own evidence, the complainant was neither of these, and had not attracted the attention of the authorities, except once in 1992, when he claimed to have been detained for 45 minutes. Further, the State Party cites the RRT’s finding that the complainant was able to depart from Algeria on three occasions and to return twice without any problems. This indicates that the complainant does not attract the authorities’ attention. 4.7 Moreover, the State party claims that during the hearing, the complainant admitted that none of his immediate family had problems with the authorities (with the exception of his brother-in-law, in 1995), and that he personally had had no problems since his detention in 1992. This again indicates that the complainant does not attract adverse attention from the authorities. 4.8 The State party observes that the complainant has a general fear of harm as a result of civil conflict in Algeria; this fear however is not sufficient to bring him under the Convention’s protection. The State party adds that the Minister of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs considered information received from the French and United Kingdom authorities to the effect that they were unaware of any instance in which a person returning to Algeria from those countries had met with violence upon return. The State party also refers to recent reports that indicate that the human rights situation in Algeria has improved. 4.9 The State party also invokes DIMA’s opinion, which noted that the Algerian authorities are aware that many citizens who travel to foreign countries make refugee applications to escape from the civil strife and adverse economic situation in Algeria. It is noted that a mere asylum application by an Algerian citizen in another country is not a reason for the Algerian authorities to attempt to persecute or torture that person. 4.10 The State party notes that by letter of 25 January 2000, the complainant was advised that arrangements had been made for him to leave Australia on South African Airways flight SA281, departing Sydney for Johannesburg at 9:40 pm on 26 January 2000. He was accompanied by 3 escorts on the flight to South Africa. Further, the State party adds that the complainant’s current whereabouts are unknown to Australian authorities.