decision to the Swiss Appeal Commission on Asylum Matters, supporting his appeal with a medical report certifying that he might have been tortured in the past. The Appeal Commission dismissed the appeal on 8 July 1996, declaring it inadmissible on the grounds that the deadline for submission of an appeal had not been met. 2.5 On 8 August 1996 the author submitted a request for reconsideration of his case (an extraordinary recourse allowing for review of decisions that had already been executed) by the Federal Office for Refugees. The applicant specifically requested that it should be noted that execution of his expulsion from Switzerland constituted a violation of the principle of non-refoulement set out in the Convention on the Status of Refugees (art. 33), the prohibition of torture contained in article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and articles 2 and 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Federal Office for Refugees rejected the request for reconsideration on 9 August 1996, maintaining that the applicant had not presented any new facts or evidence but was merely seeking to have the facts set out in his initial appeal considered in a different light. (The Federal Office for Refugees also ordered the immediate execution of the applicant's expulsion from Switzerland, on the grounds that it was not contrary to Switzerland's legislative or treaty obligations.) 2.6 On 8 September 1996 the author appealed against the decision of the Federal Office for Refugees. In the light of the new appeal, in which the author sought to prove that execution of his expulsion was wrongful under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Swiss Appeal Commission on Asylum Matters suspended execution of the expulsion and authorized the author to remain in Switzerland pending the outcome of his appeal. The Federal Office for Refugees was consulted in the context of that appeal, and on 29 April 1997 it upheld its position that the applicant's expulsion to the Syrian Arab Republic would place him in physical danger. As part of the same appeal, the author's counsel maintained his conclusions on 20 May 1997. 2.7 The appeal was considered on the merits and rejected by a decision of the Appeals Commission dated 18 June 1998; the Commission held that the applicant had not provided grounds for reconsideration of his case and that he faced no real risk of torture should he be sent back to the Syrian Arab Republic. Following that decision the author was invited to leave Swiss territory by 15 February 1999.

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