CAT/C/36/D/278/2005
Page 3
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is a Sudanese citizen from Darfur belonging to the Borno tribe. From
1986 to 2004, he studied and worked in the former Yugoslavia, his most recent occupation
consisting in providing humanitarian relief and medical assistance to injured persons through
the “Kuwait Joint Relief Committee in Kosovo”, where he was employed until 1 August
2004. The complainant contends that, from March 2002 to August 2004, he secretly provided
distance assistance to refugees from Darfur, through a family aid committee. Since 2003, he
was an active member of the JEM (Sudanese Movement for Justice and Equality), a nonArab rebel group contrary to the government and the Janjaweed militias.
2.2
On 20 August 2004, the complainant returned to Sudan. One month later, he was
arrested in Khartoum, together with four other persons, by members of the Sudanese security
agency, and accused of having supplied weapons to Darfur citizens. He contends that the real
reason behind his arrest was his JEM membership. On the third day of his arrest, the author
bribed the person that was guarding him and gained his freedom. Neither the complaint
submitted to the Committee nor any further comments by the complainant contain any
reference to any acts of torture having occurred during his arrest. However, in the hearings
and complaints filed before the Swiss Federal Office for Refugees , the complainant stated
that, during his three-day arrest, he was left without water for hours and kept in an unlit room,
which allegedly amounted to acts of torture.
2.3
The complainant left Sudan for Switzerland through Egypt with a tourist visa. In
Switzerland, he applied for asylum on 1 October 2004. By decision of 1 November 2004, the
Swiss Federal Office for Refugees rejected the application, considering that the
complainant’s allegations concerning the provision of humanitarian assistance to Darfur
refugees and his detention were not credible and full of inconsistencies. In particular, it
considered that the complainant was not able to explain the manner in which this assistance
was provided and his particular role therein, as well as the exact period of his engagement. It
further noted that it was unlikely that the complainant could have bribed the guard on the
third day of his detention and free himself when he had declared that his money and passport
had been seized by the security agents upon his detention.
2.4
The Appeal Commission rejected the complainant’s appeal on 15 April 2005, on
grounds of lack of substantiation and credibility. On 30 June 2005, the complainant filed a
request for reconsideration based on the fact that his brother had been arrested in Sudan. This
request was also dismissed by the Appeal Commission on 8 July 2005, which considered that
this new element of proof did not alter the object of the complaint. A request for suspension
of the deportation was declined on 3 August 2005, also based on lack of substantiation of the
complainant’s arguments.
2.5
By letter of 18 August 2005 sent to the Swiss Migration Office, the complainant
requested to be deported to a third country, Syria, in order to better organise his return to
Sudan without catching the attention of the Sudanese authorities. On 26 August 2005, the
Swiss Migration Office acceded to the complainant’s request and notified him that, after
having consulted the Swiss embassy in Damascus, a flight had been booked to Damascus
departing on 9 September 2005. However, the complainant refused to take that flight.