CAT/C/32/D/135/1999 Page 11 all relevant considerations, including the existence in the relevant State of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. However, the aim is to establish whether the individual concerned would be at personal risk of torture in the country to which he or she would be returned. In accordance with the Committee’s jurisprudence, the existence of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violation of human rights in a country does not of itself constitute sufficient grounds for determining whether the person in question would be at risk of being subjected to torture upon return to that country. Nor does the absence of such a situation mean that a person cannot be considered at risk of being subjected to torture. 6.3 The Committee recalls its General Comment on article 3, which states that the Committee must assess whether there are ‘substantial grounds for believing that the author would be in danger of torture’ if returned, and that the risk of torture ‘must be assessed on grounds that go beyond mere theory or suspicion’. The risk involved need not be ‘highly probable’, but it must be ‘personal and present’.17 In this regard, in previous decisions, the Committee has consistently determined that the risk of torture must be ‘foreseeable, real and personal.’18 6.4 In assessing the risk of torture in the present case, the Committee notes that the complainant claims to have been detained and tortured previously by the Turkish authorities. However, the alleged acts of torture occurred in 1995. The Committee notes that, in accordance with its General Comment on article 3, information which is considered pertinent to risk of torture includes whether the complainant has been tortured in the past, and if so, whether this was in the recent past. The incidents referred to took place 9 years ago, a lapse of time which cannot be described as recent. 6.5 The Committee must also consider whether the complainant has engaged in any political or other activity within or outside his own country which would make him particularly vulnerable to any risk of torture upon return to Turkey. In relation to his activities inside Turkey, the complainant’s political activities included collecting money and food for displaced Kurdish villagers. Although he claims to have been 17 General Comment No1, Sixteenth Session (1996). Views of the Committee on Communication No 204/2002, H.K.H. v Sweden, adopted 28 November 2002. 18