Communication N° 43/1996 Submitted by: Kaveh Yaragh Tala Alleged victim: The author State party: Sweden Date of adoption of Views: 15 November 1996 Subject matter: deportation of complainant to Iran with alleged risk of torture 2.4 After being released from hospital, he was moved to prison N° 66 of the Revolutionary Guards. There he managed to get a message out to his parents, and on 11 August 1989 he was released awaiting trial. Apparently, his father had bribed the man in charge into accepting the registration papers of the family house as bail; the author adds that normally political prisoners are not released on bail. The author had to report at the prison every third day. Procedural issue: none Substantive issue: risk of torture after deportation to receiving State Article of the Convention: 3 1. The author of the communication is Mr. Kaveh Yaragh Tala, an Iranian citizen born on 18 August 1969, currently residing in Sweden. He claims that his return to Iran would constitute a violation of article 3 of the Convention against Torture by Sweden. He is represented by counsel. 2.5 After about a week, he received a message from his contact in the PMOI which he interpreted as a warning. He went into hiding in Shiraz and later in Boosher. After about six months, he contacted his brother-in-law through a friend and learned that he was wanted by the Revolutionary Guards and that they had searched the family house and arrested his parents for questioning. Apparently, the Revolutionary Guards also found some secret material that the author had hidden and arrested his contact man. The author then decided to leave the country, contacted a smuggler, and, at the end of June 1990, left from Bandar Abbas by boat to Dubai and from there by plane to Stockholm, via Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The facts as presented by the author 2.1 The author states that he became politically aware in the summer of 1985, and through a friend of the family started to become involved with the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). He took part in activities such as painting slogans and distributing leaflets late at night. From September 1986 on, he also acted as a contact between the friend and two army officers. At the end of 1986, he began listening to PMOI broadcasts in order to write down messages to certain codes and to hand them to a contact person. 3.1 The author arrived in Sweden on 7 July 1990 and requested asylum. He was briefly interrogated by the police. On 3 September 1990, the author was again interrogated by the police, at which occasion he told them about his activities for the PMOI, but not about the torture and maltreatment and the circumstances of his release. On 26 November 1990, the Immigration Board decided to refuse the author’s application for asylum and ordered his expulsion from Sweden because of the contradictions in his statements. 2.2 In February 1987, the author was forced to perform his military service. He was assigned to the maintenance section of the Revolutionary Guards headquarters. After some time he began to deliver information, such as transport routes for ammunition and armaments and location of ammunition and underground storage, to the PMOI. The author also stole and delivered to the PMOI some 20 blank passes with which vehicles could move around freely without being checked at checkpoints. 3.2 During the appeal, the author applied to the Government for a change of counsel because of unsatisfactory cooperation. This was granted on 19 March 1991. According to the author, the new counsel was the first one who really listened to him. In his plea, he gives the true story of the author, including the torture, and he presented a doctor’s certificate. Nevertheless, the Aliens Appeal Board rejected the author’s appeal on 3 July 1992. The Board acknowledged that the author had now given a full and consistent description of his political activities, detention and torture, but it considered that he lacked credibility, since he changed his story regarding his route to Sweden, the passport used and his arrest and military service. 2.3 In March 1989, the author was stopped when leaving the quarters and found with two blank passes on him. He was arrested, beaten and kicked and was brought to the underground prison N° 59 of the security service of the Revolutionary Guards. There he stayed for three and a half months, during which period he was interrogated about 25 times. During each interrogation he was maltreated and tortured. During the last interrogation, he was told to lie down on his stomach and then felt a hot metal object against his thighs before he passed out. When his wounds became infected, he was brought to Khatamal-anbia hospital, where he stayed under guard for four weeks. 27