CAT/C/21/D/97/1997
page 3
inter alia, about his brother's activities abroad. On these occasions, the
author states that he was blindfolded and subjected to different methods of
torture such as beatings, being hung by his arms, hit on the soles of the
feet, hosed with high-pressure ice cold water and deprived of food. He also
says that he still has scars from this treatment. In 1991 he left Midyat and
went to Antalya, where he shared an appartment with four members of the PKK.
2.2
In July 1992 he was arrested by the police, together with some Kurdish
friends, and kept in detention for two days during which he was interrogated
about his activities in Antalya and beaten. He was also pushed down stairs as
a result of which he injured one of his eyes. In August 1992 he participated
in the organization of a non-authorized Kurdish festival. Two of the
organizers were arrested and subsequently sentenced to prison terms. As the
police were looking for him, the author fled to Istanbul where he went into
hiding until he managed to leave the country.
2.3
The author arrived in Sweden in February 1993 and applied for asylum.
On 28 March 1994 the Swedish Immigration Board rejected the application on the
grounds that the information submitted lacked credibility. The Board gave the
following reasons for its assessment: (a) The author had destroyed his
passport and refused to reveal in what name and for what nationality it had
been issued; (b) he had not left Turkey immediately after the event that he
claimed had led to his flight; (c) he had failed to make a convincing case
that the authorities were interested in him, since he had stated that he was
not himself politically active.
2.4
The author appealed to the Aliens Appeal Board claiming that he was
afraid that the persons who had assisted him to flee could be in trouble if
he revealed any information about the passport. For that reason he had
decided to follow their instructions and destroyed it. He reiterated that
immediately after the arrest of his two friends he had gone into hiding until
his family could arrange for his flight from Turkey. He also stated that in
September 1993 one of his brothers was arrested and sentenced to 15 years'
imprisonment for his activities with the PKK. The author was informed by his
family that, in that context, the police had searched for him at his home in
Midyat and beaten his father and younger brother. In support of his claim the
author submitted a newspaper article regarding the incident in which his
brother was arrested. He also submitted a transcript of a court hearing
concerning the friends who had been arrested during the festival.
2.5
On 2 January 1995 the Aliens Appeal Board rejected the appeal for lack
of credibility, in view of the fact that the author had waited two days before
he applied for asylum and that he destroyed the passport with which he had
arrived in Sweden. Moreover, the Board stated that the transcript of the
court hearing did not confirm that the author had been politically active.
2.6
The author submitted a new application in which he disclosed, for the
first time, that he himself had actively supported the PKK. He explained that
his relatives had strongly advised him not to reveal any connection with the
PKK because of the risk of being considered a “terrorist” by the Swedish
authorities. The author also submitted the verdict of a military court which
showed that in 1993 he had been sentenced in absentia to five years’