CAT/C/46/D/310/2007
from Amnesty International that he was able to obtain the documents. It observes that even
if the medical reports fail to specify when and where the complainant was tortured, they
provide grounds which go beyond mere theory or suspicion for believing that he was
tortured in the recent past.
9.6
In the light of the current human rights situation in Syria, the Committee does not
consider it decisive whether or not any restrictions were imposed on the complainant
following his military service in the beginning of 2003. It recalls that the State party itself
has submitted that the complainant would be taken into preventive detention upon arrival in
Syria for having left the country illegally and subsequently would be transferred for further
investigation for 10 to 14 days. This combined with the fact that the complainant was
convicted of anti-State crimes by the Supreme State Security Court in 1997 is sufficient in
the present circumstances for assuming that there are substantial grounds for believing that
he would be detained, interrogated about his reasons for leaving Syria and about his
activities abroad and, during such detention and interrogation, exposed to a risk of being
subjected to torture. The Committee observes that such risk is personal and present.
9.7
The Committee against Torture, acting under article 22, paragraph 7, of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, concludes that the deportation of the complainant to Syria would amount to a
breach of article 3 of the Convention.
10. The Committee urges the State party, in accordance with rule 112, paragraph 5, of its
rules of procedure, to inform it, within 90 days from the date of the transmittal of this
decision, of the steps taken in response to the decision expressed above.
[Adopted in English, French and Spanish, the English text being the original version.
Subsequently to be issued also in Arabic, Russian and Chinese as part of the Committee’s
annual report to the General Assembly.]
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