United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database - Document - Sessional/Annual Report of Committee - the country, together with his wife and their two children, and applied for asylum in Switzerland on 2 May 1990. 2.4 On 27 August 1992, his application was refused by the Federal Office for Refugees, which considered his story not credible and full of inconsistencies. It also considered that the author's wife was not aware of any political activities on the part of her husband. The Appeal Commission rejected his appeal on 26 January 1993, considering that the author's claim and story were illogical, revealed no practical experience in illegal political activities and were full of contradictions. 2.5 On 26 April 1993, the author, represented by the Beratungsstelle für Asylsuchende der Region Basel, filed a request for reconsideration, based on his activities in Switzerland for the Armenian and Persian Aid Organization (APHO), which, according to the author, is considered an illegal organization in Iran. The author referred in this connection to three attempts to murder the leader of APHO in Zurich and claimed that those attempts prove that APHO members are being persecuted by Iran. The author stated that he had distributed leaflets and helped run various APHO stands, notably at a demonstration in Bern. In support of his statements, he presented an APHO membership card, stand permits issued in his name and photos showing his activities. He also said that incidents involving representatives of the Government of Iran had occurred in May 1991 (when a friend of the brother of the President of the Iranian Council of Ministers threatened APHO members with a pistol) and in June 1992 (when the Iranian consul visited the APHO stand and attempted to identify the participants). The author stated that he had reported the incident to the police the same day, in his capacity as the person in charge of the stand. In his request for review, he alleged that his activity within APHO would render him liable to treatment contrary to article 3 of the Convention if he returned to Iran. 2.6 By a decision of 5 May 1993, the Federal Office for Refugees refused to consider his request for review. The Appeal Commission, by a decision of 10 August 1994, also declared his application to be illfounded. The author states that he has since been contacted by the police for the purpose of the preparation of his departure from Switzerland. Substance of the complaint 3. The author is afraid that he will be questioned about his political activities when he returns to Iran. He adds that torture during interrogations is common in Iran. Furthermore, he is afraid that he will be charged with the Molotov cocktail attack of 1982 and that he will consequently be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment or even death. He adds that the mere act of requesting asylum in another country is considered an offence in Iran. Procedural questions 4.1 On 22 November 1995, the Committee transmitted the communication to the State party for its observations. 4.2 In its observations of 22 January 1996, the State party contests the admissibility of the communication, stating that since the author had not, in the course of the ordinary asylum procedure http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/de75e94f920bd0a0802565a600537744?Opendocument (74 of 109)16/10/2006 9:54:12 AM