CAT/C/34/D/220/2002
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1.2 On 12 November 2002, the State party was requested, pursuant to rule 108,
paragraph 1, of the Committee’s rules of procedure, not to expel the complainant,
while his complaint is under consideration by the Committee. In the State party’s
submission on admissibility and the merits of 10 April 2003, it acceded to the
Committee’s request not to expel the complainant.
The facts as presented by the complainant:
2.1 The complainant is a Christian and lived in a village about 10 km from Barisal
City, Bangladesh, where his father worked as a clergyman. On 7 April 1986, his
father was abducted from his house by unknown men. A few days later, he was found
dead and his body mutilated. Shortly thereafter, the same men returned, beat his
mother and threatened her and the rest of the family to refrain from complaining to the
authorities. The complainant’s uncle was also murdered and his family was
persecuted because of their religion. As a result of this persecution, he moved with his
family to Barisal city.
2.2 The complainant states that he was subjected to threats and intimidation because
of his religion. In 1988, he was recruited to the Bangladesh Freedom Party (the BFP)
and was politically active from 1990 to 1996. In 1991, he took up the post of deputy
coordinator. In 1995, when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was in power, he
was arrested after being falsely accused of anti-State activities and kept in custody for
5 days. On release, he continued with his political activities. After the Awami League
came to power in June 1996, he ceased his political activities, as the police had started
arresting members of the BFP. Several attempts were made to stop him from working
with the BFP and to induce him to join the Awami League. At the end of 1996, he
went into hiding in another part of the city, before finally moving out.
2.3 In 1998 his mother told him that the police had been looking for him, and that he
was accused of murder and anti-State activities. In 1999, when he visited his family in
the city, he was warned that the police were going to arrest him, and he fled.
Sometime in the same year, when the police could not find the complainant, they
arrested his brother, tortured him in the police station and released him after two days.
On another occasion in 1999, the complainant was attacked by members of the
Awami League while on his way to visit his mother.
2.4 On 5 February 2000, the complainant entered Sweden and applied for asylum on
the same day, on the grounds that he had been persecuted because of his religion and
his involvement in the BFP. Under the terms of the two arrest warrants issued in 1997,
the complainant had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and anti-State
activities and would be arrested if returned to Bangladesh. On 27 March 2001, the
Migration Board denied the application.
2.5 On 18 June 2001, the complainant appealed the decision before the Aliens Appeal
Board where he stated that he had been subjected to torture, including rape and
beatings for two days, while under arrest in 1997 or 1998. Thereafter, he was treated
for a week, under police supervision, at Barisal Medical College. He claims that he
was released after his mother had promised that he would join the Awami League.