CAT/C/60/D/602/2014
the Sudan because of his brother’s attachment to the Justice and Equality Movement. The
complainant had also referred to his fear of reprisals or of being killed by both individuals
and the authorities because he was in a relationship with a Christian woman, whom he had
met in 2006. In support of his grounds for seeking asylum, the complainant had submitted
that he had been detained and tortured on 12 April 2007. He had later been admitted to a
military hospital because he was unconscious and had escaped from there with the
assistance of a hospital employee.
4.3
A majority of members of the Refugee Appeals Board could not find as facts the
complainant’s statement on his detention, subsequent hospitalization and escape from a
military hospital. In its assessment, the Board emphasized that, on essential points, the
complainant had made inconsistent and augmentative statements, and that he and his
partner had made inconsistent statements concerning the reason for their departure from the
Sudan. When interviewed by the Danish Immigration Service, the complainant had stated
that he had participated in a demonstration in 2003, but that it had not given rise to
problems, and that he had moved to Khartoum in 2005 because he had not wanted to live in
the same town as his brother. At the hearing before the Board, the complainant had stated
that he had moved to Khartoum in 2003 because the animals he was tending as a shepherd
had been killed. Later at the hearing, the complainant had changed his statement, saying
that he had started travelling back and forth to Khartoum in 2003, but that he had not
moved there until 2005. When interviewed by the Danish Immigration Service on 20
November 2013, the applicant had stated that he had been approached at his workplace by
three men, who had beaten and tortured him, stabbing him with a knife all over his body so
that he had fainted, after which they had taken him to a military hospital. When interviewed
on 17 January 2014, the applicant had stated that three or four persons had looked for him
and taken him to the police station, where he had been beaten and whipped across the
thighs, and that he had lost consciousness the next day and had therefore been taken to a
hospital. The complainant’s partner had stated to the Danish Immigration Service on 14
September 2009 that the complainant had been arrested during a visit to his parents. At the
hearing before the Refugee Appeals Board, the complainant had stated that his body had
been cut with pieces of metal.
4.4
The complainant and his partner had also made inconsistent statements on the reason
for the complainant’s departure from the Sudan. During her asylum proceedings, the
complainant’s partner had stated that the complainant had problems with the authorities
because he was a conscientious objector, whereas the complainant had stated that it was his
brother’s attachment to the Justice and Equality Movement that had given rise to his
problems with the authorities. Finally, it appears from the decision of the Refugee Appeals
Board that the majority of members had emphasized that the applicant’s statement on his
escape from the military hospital did not seem probable. The Board had also found that the
complainant’s relationship with a Christian woman could not justify asylum. The Board had
emphasized the background information available, from which it appeared that it was
permitted for Muslim men and Christian women to marry in the Sudan, that there was no
reason to believe that the authorities would react against such marriages, and that it was
very unlikely that such relationships would be reported to the police, since they were not
illegal. The majority of Board members had found no basis for adjourning the proceedings
pending an examination for signs of torture.
4.5
The majority of members had therefore found that the complainant had not been
persecuted before his departure and would not, if returned, be at such risk of persecution as
to justify residence in Denmark under section 7 of the Aliens Act.
4.6
The State party further provides a detailed description of the legal basis for the work
of the Board and its methods of work. 2
4.7
Concerning the significance of the asylum seeker’s credibility relative to the
significance of medical information, the State party refers to the Committee’s decision in
2
For a detailed description see, for example, communication No. 580/2012, F.K. v. Denmark, decision
adopted on 23 November 2015, paras. 4.9-4.11.
3