- CAT/C/34/D/195/2002 Page 3 Decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention 1.1 The complainant, Mr. Mafhoud Brada, a citizen of Algeria, was residing in France when the present complaint was submitted. He was the subject of a deportation order to his country of origin. He claims that his forced repatriation to Algeria constitutes a violation by France of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is represented by Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture, a non-governmental organization. 1.2 In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee brought the complaint to the State party’s attention by note verbale dated 19 December 2001. At the same time, the Committee, acting in accordance with rule 108, paragraph 9, of its rules of procedure, requested the State party not to deport the complainant to Algeria while his complaint was being considered. The Committee reiterated its request in a note verbale dated 26 September 2002. 1.3 In a letter dated 21 October 2002 from the complainant’s counsel, the Committee was informed that the complainant had been deported to Algeria on 30 September 2002 on a flight to Algiers and that he had been missing since his arrival in Algeria. The facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1 The complainant, a fighter pilot since 1993, was a member of the Algerian air force squadron based in Bechar, Algeria. From 1994 on, the squadron was regularly used, as a back-up for helicopter operations, to bomb Islamist maquis areas in the region of Sidi Bel Abbes. The fighter aircraft were equipped with incendiary bombs. The complainant and other pilots were aware that the use of such weapons was prohibited. After seeing the destruction caused by these weapons on the ground in photographs taken by military intelligence officers - pictures of dead men, women, children and animals - some pilots began to doubt the legitimacy of such operations. 2.2 In April 1994, the complainant and another pilot declared, during a briefing, that they would not participate in bombing operations against the civilian population, in spite of the risk of heavy criminal sanctions against them. A senior officer then waved his gun at the complainant’s colleague, making it clear to him that refusal to carry out missions “meant death”. When the two pilots persisted in their refusal to obey orders, the same officer loaded his gun and pointed it at the complainant’s colleague, who was mortally wounded as he tried to escape through a window. The complainant, also wishing to escape, jumped out of another window and broke his ankle. He was arrested and taken to the interrogation centre of the regional security department in Bechar third military region. The complainant was detained for three months, regularly questioned about his links with the Islamists and frequently tortured by means of beatings and burning of his genitals. 2.3 The complainant was finally released owing to a lack of evidence of sympathy with the Islamists and in the light of positive reports concerning his service in the forces. He was forbidden to fly and assigned to Bechar airbase. Explaining that servicemen who were suspected of being linked to or sympathizing with the Islamists regularly “disappeared” or were murdered, he escaped from the base and took refuge in Ain Defla, where his family lived. The complainant

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