CAT/C/61/D/690/2015 dealt with on the merits and not on admissibility considerations alone. As the Committee finds no further obstacles to admissibility, it declares the present complaint admissible. Consideration of the merits 9.1 The Committee has considered the communication in the light of all the information made available to it by the parties, in accordance with article 22 (4) of the Convention. 9.2 In the present case, the issue before the Committee is whether the return of the complainant to Lebanon would constitute a violation of the State party’s obligation under article 3 of the Convention not to expel or to return (“refouler”) a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture. 9.3 The Committee must evaluate whether there are substantial grounds for believing that the complainant would be personally in danger of being subjected to torture upon return to Lebanon. 9.4 In assessing that risk, the Committee must take into account all relevant considerations, pursuant to article 3 (2) of the Convention, including the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. However, the Committee recalls that the aim of the evaluation is to establish whether the individual concerned would be personally at a foreseeable and real risk of being subjected to torture in the country to which he or she would be returned. It follows that the existence of a pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights in a country does not as such constitute sufficient reason for determining that a particular person would be in danger of being subjected to torture on return to that country; additional grounds must be adduced to show that the individual concerned would be personally at risk. 9.5 The Committee recalls its general comment No. 1, according to which the risk of torture must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or suspicion. While the risk does not have to meet the test of being highly probable (para. 6), the Committee recalls that the burden of proof generally falls on the complainant, who must present an arguable case that he or she faces a foreseeable, real and personal risk. 2 The Committee also recalls that, although under the terms of its general comment No. 1 it is free to assess the facts on the basis of the full set of circumstances in every case, considerable weight is given to the findings of fact that are made by organs of the State party concerned (para. 9), 3 while at the same time it is not bound by such findings and instead has the power, provided by article 22 (4) of the Convention, of free assessment of the facts based upon the full set of circumstances in every case. 9.6 The Committee refers to the concluding observations on the initial report of Lebanon dated 30 May 2017, where it expressed concern over isolated incidents of illtreatment of men suspected of being homosexual who had been held in custody by Internal Security Forces officers.4 At the same time, the Committee notes that the reported incidents cannot be viewed as constituting a general and widespread practice towards homosexual men. It also notes that, in 2015 and in 2016, 76 arrests per year were made under article 534 of the Criminal Code.5 While expressing its concern over the existence of a provision that enables criminal prosecution of homosexuals, the Committee is not able to conclude, from the information before it, that every homosexual man in Lebanon is a target of persecution by the authorities. 2 3 4 5 See for example, communication No. 203/2002, A.R. v. the Netherlands, decision adopted on 14 November 2003, para. 7.3. See, for example, communication No. 356/2008, N.S. v. Switzerland, decision adopted on 6 May 2010, para. 7.3. See CAT/C/LBN/CO/1, para. 14. See Helem shadow report submitted to the Human Rights Committee entitled “Human Rights Violations against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals in Lebanon” (April 2017). Available from http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx? symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICO%2fLBN%2f27152&Lang=en. 5