CAT/C/35/D/237/2003 Page 6 State party’s observations on the admissibility and the merits of the complaint 4.1 The State party states that, following the complainant’s and her family’s arrival in Sweden on 22 March 2001, an initial interview was conducted. In that interview the family stated that they were in need of humanitarian help due to the earthquake in El Salvador. According to the complainant’s husband, they had also experienced political problems in the past but had managed to overcome them. A second interview of the family took place on 26 April 2001. On that occasion, they stated that due to the complainant’s political activities in the FMLN, she had been imprisoned and tortured in 1989 and had been threatened by death squads until 1993. Since the Peace Accords in 1992, she had not been politically active. The complainant’s husband worked as a journalist and had been harassed and threatened by criminal elements until 2000. On 15 March 2002, the Migration Board rejected the complainants’ asylum application. It considered that no reasons for asylum had been given and that the threats from criminal elements were insufficient grounds for granting asylum. On 7 November 2002, the Aliens Appeal Board upheld the decision of the Migration Board. 4.2 On 28 May 2003, the complainant and her family returned to Sweden and re-applied for asylum on 5 June 2003. A third interview was conducted in which the complainant stated that, a few days after their arrival in El Salvador, she and her daughter were attacked while riding in a taxi. Three men in a pick-up stopped the taxi and forced them into the pick- up. Two men were masked and armed with guns. The men mistreated them and took a bag with their passports and money, before leaving them in a motorway. The complainant was uncertain whether the perpetrators were criminals of if they were attacked for political reasons. On 11 July 2003, the Migration Board rejected the complainant’s application for asylum. It stated that Salvadorian society was polarized and violence was frequent. Since the Peace Accords in 1992, respect for human rights had improved significantly. The Board found it unlikely that they had been attacked on account of the complainant’s political activities or her husband’s background as a journalist, but rather as a result of rampant crime. On 14 August 2003, the Aliens Appeal Board upheld the decision of the Migration Board. 4.3 The State party contends that the complaint is inadmissible as manifestly unfounded, pursuant to article 22, paragraph 2, of the Convention and rule 107 (b) of the Committee’s rules of procedure, and argues that the complainant’s claim that they are at risk of torture if returned to El Salvador fails to reach the threshold of substantiation required for admissibility. 4.4 On the merits, the State party states that according to recent reports, El Salvador is a constitutional and multi-party democracy. Since the Peace Accords in 1992, which brought an end to the armed conflict in El Salvador, respect for human rights improved significantly. In 2002, there were no reports of politically motivated killings or disappearances, and according to several non- governmental sources, there was no increase in political violence. According to the same sources, there were few complaints about torture by police in 2002 and some police officers used excessive force and mistreated detainees. In the general elections of March 2003, the FMLN won, for the second time, a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press and the Government generally respected these rights in practice. Journalists regularly and freely criticised the Government and reported the views of the opposition. Crime remained a serious problem in the country; organized crime was widespread and violent crimes were common. Kidnapping for ransom was frequent, even if the number of kidnappings had declined. Due to the 2001 earthquake, economic conditions deteriorated. This had caused a large number of