CCPR/C/114/D/2343/2014 1.2 On 6 February 2014, when registering the communication, and pursuant to rule 92 of its rules of procedure, the Committee, acting through its Special Rapporteur on new communications and interim measures, requested the State party to refrain from deporting the author while his case was under consideration by the Committee. By a note verbale dated 6 August 2014, the State party requested the Committee to review its request for interim measures and informed the Committee that, on 14 February 2014, the Board had suspended the time limit for the author’s deportation until further notice. On 3 September 2014, counsel provided comments thereon. On 30 September 2014, the Committee denied the State party’s request to lift its initial interim measures request. The author currently remains in Denmark. The facts as presented by the author 2.1 The author was born and raised in Cairo by his mother. He worked in Cairo from 2007 to 2012 as an information technology manager and, in parallel, from 2010 to 2012, as an information technology customer support provider in a company based in London. From October 2012 until January 2014, he was unemployed and did volunteer work as social media officer and webmaster in Cairo and as social media officer for the magazine newtimes.dk, a project run by the Danish Red Cross. 2.2 On 15 October 2012, the author went to Denmark to visit his half-brother (the son of his father) on a valid tourist visa.1 On 7 January 2013, in the light of the political turmoil in December 2012 in Egypt, and on the advice of his half-brother, he applied for asylum. On 24 and 25 January 2013, he submitted the necessary documentation and was interviewed by the police. On 22 April 2013, he was interviewed by the Danish Immigration Service, which rejected his asylum request on 2 May 2013. His appeal to the Danish Refugee Appeals Board was rejected on 17 December 2013, and a decision made by the Danish Immigration Service refusing his application for a residence permit was upheld. At the same time, he was ordered to leave the country within 15 days from the date of the decision. 2.3 The author states that, in 2007, together with two friends, he founded a soccer fan club called Ultras Ahlawy for peaceful soccer fans. It became one of the main sport fan clubs in the country, with almost one million of members and supporters. Although initially it was only a sport club, Ultras Ahlawy eventually took a political approach, having participated actively in all major occasions during the Egyptian revolution, and played an important role at the “Camel Battle Day”, when 18 million people in Egypt demonstrated. The author was solely responsible for the information technology and communication of this club, including the administration of its Facebook page and Twitter account, owing to which his name was known by the authorities and by most political organizations in the country. Inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, he was reportedly one of the first to call through online media for a revolution in Egypt, as early as 25 January 2011. After the Government started to kill demonstrators in an attempt to stay in power, the author announced on the website of the club that the Ultras Ahlawy would take part in the revolution. Thus, the members of the club became significantly involved in the revolution, even if the club itself did not have a direct or official political agenda besides a general opposition to corruption in Egypt. The author explains that his involvement included the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of people through the Internet and the organization of large meetings and demonstrations. He himself directly participated in only a few nonviolent demonstrations. 1 His visa expired on 12 January 2013. 3