CAT/C/30/D/192/2001
page 3
1.2
In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee transmitted
the complaint to the State party on 20 November 2001. At the same time the Committee, acting
in accordance with rule 108, paragraph 1, of its rules of procedure, requested the State party not
to expel the complainants to Syria while their complaint was under consideration.
The facts as presented by the complainants
2.1
The complainant states that he was arrested while performing his compulsory military
service owing to his refusal to join the ruling Baath party. He claims to have been imprisoned in
Tadmur prison from 1 November 1987 to 31 March 1988, and to have been ill-treated.
2.2
He also states that he has been a committed Yekiti party sympathizer since 1992, and that
he became a member of the party in 1995. In this connection he explains that he has distributed
pamphlets and newspapers and taken part in party meetings. He asserts that on
5 November 1996 the Syrian political security service accused him of handing out prohibited
leaflets and arrested him, before releasing him owing to lack of evidence on 20 November 1996.
2.3
The complainant explains that on 18 July 1998 a meeting attended by some 45 to 50
people, including senior officials of the Yekiti party, was held at his home in Al Qamishli. He
states that at the meeting he roundly criticized government policy. He goes on to say that he then
hid at his sister’s home, on the advice of the organizer of the meeting, as he feared being
punished by the authorities for his remarks. He claims that shortly after the meeting members of
the Syrian security service went to his home to look for him. The complainant affirms that over
the next few days he heard that the security forces had reportedly made several attempts to arrest
him. He states that he first hid at his sister’s home in Al Qamishli, then at his uncle’s home, near
to the border with Turkey. He further states that there he met up with his family, which had
meanwhile also fled Al Qamishli. The complainants indicate that they left Syria together, in
early August 1998, and crossed Turkey en route to Switzerland.
2.4
Mr. H. affirms that, after he had fled, he remained in contact with organizations of party
exiles in Europe. He also states that he took part in a demonstration against the Syrian regime in
the spring of 2000 in Geneva.
2.5
The complainants applied for asylum in Switzerland on 17 August 1998; the application
was rejected on 21 January 1999. The Swiss Asylum Appeal Commission (CRA), ruling on the
appeal submitted by the complainants on 20 February 2001, confirmed the initial decision to
reject the application on 11 April 2001. In a letter dated 23 April 2001 the complainants were
given a deadline for departure of 23 July 2001.
2.6
On the basis of a new document intended to demonstrate that the fear of persecution cited
was well founded - an internal memorandum from the Al Hasakah political security division,
dated 21 August 1998, addressed to the Al Qamishli political security division for the arrest of
Mr. H. for prohibited political propaganda on behalf of the Kurdish cause - the complainant, on
21 June 2001, submitted to the CRA an application for review of the decision of 11 April 2001.
By an interlocutory decision of 28 June 2001 the CRA rejected a request for the applications for
review to have suspensive effect and for expulsion to be deferred.