CAT/C/37/D/280/2005
page 3
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
In February 1989, the complainant was arrested for his “political activities” and was held
at the Abu Salim prison for six years, without ever having been accused or tried. He claims that,
during his detention, he was repeatedly subjected to ill-treatment and acts of torture.
2.2
The complainant was released in 1995 and allegedly continued to be harassed by the
security forces. He claims to have been summoned regularly to the security office where he was
threatened and tortured and, in 2000, State agents allegedly burst into his home to confiscate his
computer. He alleges that, following that incident, he was arrested and tortured on several
occasions. The last arrest took place in 2002, and on that occasion the acts of torture were more
severe.
2.3
In March 2003, he learned that one of his friends, who had been imprisoned at the same
time as the complainant and for the same reasons, had been sent to prison again because his
name appeared on a list. The complainant concluded that his name also appeared on that list.
Following these events, the complainant left the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for Egypt, where he
claims to have obtained an Italian visa through “an acquaintance” at the Italian Embassy. He
arrived in Italy, and from there proceeded to Switzerland. On 10 June 2003, upon his arrival in
Switzerland, he filed an application for asylum and produced official documents indicating that
he had been imprisoned for six years, as well as one of the summonses, dated December 1997,
that he had received after his release.
2.4
The complainant states that he continued his political activities in Switzerland, where he
maintained contact with various organizations and associations campaigning for human rights in
the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. He claims that he received two letters from his family informing
him that the security forces had come looking for him on several occasions and that they had
threatened members of his family. Following those events, his family was forced to move.
2.5
On 5 March 2004, the complainant’s application for asylum was rejected by the Federal
Office for Refugees, now the Federal Office for Migration, which ordered his expulsion from
Swiss territory by 30 April 2004. The complainant notes that the Federal Office for Refugees
acknowledged that he had been imprisoned without trial, but concluded that it had not been
established that he had been tortured and persecuted after his release in 1995. On 5 April 2004,
the complainant lodged an appeal against this decision and, on 7 July 2004, the Swiss Asylum
Review Board rejected the appeal, considering that there were many factual inconsistencies in
the complainant’s allegations and that his presentation of the facts was not believable. The
Commission therefore upheld the decision of the Federal Office for Refugees, ordering the
complainant’s return under threat of expulsion.
2.6
On 8 September 2005, the Geneva Police Commissioner issued an order for the
administrative detention of the complainant. On 9 September 2005, the Cantonal Aliens Appeal
Board (Commission cantonale de recours en matière de police des étrangers) upheld the order
for the complainant’s detention for a period of one month, that is, until 8 October 2005. On
19 September 2005, the complainant appealed to the Geneva Administrative Tribunal against the
decision of the Geneva Cantonal Aliens Appeal Board of 9 September 2005, which upheld the
order for his administrative detention. Attached to his appeal to the Administrative Tribunal
were letters in support of his application for asylum from non-governmental organizations that