CAT/C/63/D/621/2014
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
6 June 2018
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 621/2014*, **
Communication submitted by:
Edward Obar Shodeinde (not represented by
counsel)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Canada
Date of complaint:
4 August 2014 (initial submission)
Date of present decision:
11 May 2018
Subject matter:
Deportation to Nigeria
Procedural issues:
Non-substantiation of claims; non-exhaustion of
domestic remedies; incompatibility with the
Convention
Substantive issue:
Risk of torture in the event of deportation to
country of origin
Articles of the Convention:
3 and 22
1.1
The complainant is Edward Obar Shodeinde, a national of Nigeria born in Ibadan on
9 April 1966. Mr. Shodeinde sought refugee protection in Canada, but his claim was
rejected on 26 September 2013. He claims that his planned forcible removal from Canada
to Nigeria constitutes a violation by Canada of article 3 of the Convention. The complainant
is not represented by counsel.
1.2
In his communication of 4 August 2014, the complainant requested that interim
measures be granted in order to prevent his deportation, planned by the end of August
2014. 1 On 19 August 2014, the Committee, acting through its Rapporteur on new
complaints and interim measures, decided to grant interim measures, requesting the State
party to refrain from returning the complainant to Nigeria pending the examination of his
communication by the Committee. On 5 March 2018, the complainant confirmed that he
was still residing in Canada.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The author is an evangelical Christian, who used to preach and evangelize Muslims
in Nigeria. He fled Nigeria because members of the Islamic fundamentalist group Jama’atu
* Adopted by the Committee at its sixty-third session (23 April–18 May 2018).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
1
Essadia Belmir, Felice Gaer, Abdelwahab Hani, Jens Modvig, Ana Racu, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón,
Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Honghong Zhang.
The author was not able to provide the notification of removal since he reportedly lost the document.
GE.18-09148(E)