CAT/C/71/D/874/2018
publisher”. That title is given to active members who go from door to door to preach the
principles of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.1 In October 2018, the complainant was baptized.
2.2
In his first application for asylum, the complainant stated that he was of Hazara
ethnicity and had been living in Herat before leaving Afghanistan. He claimed that he had
left Afghanistan because of a threat to his life from private individuals. The Swedish
Migration Agency found his claims to be vague and lacking in credibility. 2 The complainant
also claimed that he would be at risk of persecution by the authorities and the Taliban,
because of his conversion to Christianity in Sweden. The Agency found that the complainant
had provided a vague account as to the reasons why he had decided to convert and found that
his conversion was not a genuine conversion based on religious convictions. The Agency
denied the complainant’s application for asylum on 31 July 2017.
2.3
The complainant’s appeal to the Migration Court was rejected on 5 December 2017.
On 28 January 2018, the Migration Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal and the decision
to expel the complainant became final and non-appealable.
2.4
On 23 February 2018, the complainant submitted an application to the Swedish
Migration Agency for a residence permit pursuant to chapter 12, section 18, of the Aliens
Act, or a re-examination of the issue of a residence permit pursuant to chapter 12, section 19,
of the Act, citing impediments to the enforcement of the expulsion order. In the application,
the complainant provided further information on his conversion and the extent of his
participation in the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation. He claimed that everyone in
Afghanistan was aware of his conversion and that he had received a threatening letter from
the Taliban. The Agency found that the claims related to the complainant’s conversion had
already been considered and could not be seen as new circumstances. It did however consider
as new information the claim that knowledge had spread in Afghanistan about the
complainant’s conversion and the letter from Taliban. The Agency, however, found that the
copy of the letter, and not the original, had been submitted and that, because images of
documents could be easily manipulated, its probative value was low. The complainant did
not provide any information about how the Taliban found out about his conversion. The
application was rejected by the Migration on 20 March 2018.
2.5
The complainant appealed to the Migration Court presenting additional information
about his having been approved as a preacher in the Jehovah’s Witnesses community. He
claimed that he was actively visiting people from door to door and preaching in public places.
He claimed that knowledge of his preaching has spread among the Muslim community in
Sweden, which had put him at risk. Such information could reach Afghanistan and expose
him to persecution there. The author claims that he intended to continue his activities
irrespective of where he was. He enclosed a letter from a member of his congregation who
confirmed the sincerity of his beliefs. The Court considered the new information regarding
his conversion to be a supplement to what had already been assessed in the asylum
proceedings, which could therefore not be regarded as new circumstances that would have
warranted a new assessment. On 6 April 2018, the Court upheld the decision of the Swedish
Migration Agency of 31 July 2017, rejecting the complainant’s appeal. The complainant’s
application for leave to appeal was rejected by the Migration Court of Appeal on 27 April
2018.
Complaint
3.1
The complainant claims that his deportation to Afghanistan would expose him to a
personal, real and foreseeable risk of torture, persecution or death because of his conversion
1
2
2
The complainant claims that the title “unbaptised publisher” is only given to active and strong
believers. He has submitted with the communication a statement from his representative, who is his
teacher in the congregation, stating that the complainant is completely honest, sincere and convinced
in his Christian faith and beliefs.
The complainant alleged that his sister and two persons of Pashto ethnicity were kidnapped by the
Taliban. The complainant’s sister was subsequently released, however, at the moment of release, the
two other persons kidnapped by the Taliban were killed. The complainant claimed that he was at risk
of being killed as an act of revenge by relatives of those persons.