CCPR/C/121/D/2471/2014
1990, he had influential connections and he paid a bribe. The author referred to
international reports about the widespread use of torture in Iranian prisons, in particular in
order to obtain confessions, and the absence of a legal defence institute, which would
deprive him of a fair trial. 1
2.7
On 30 May 2014, the Department of Citizenship and Migration rejected the author’s
asylum application. It noted that the author had failed to provide sufficient evidence of his
conversion to Christianity, that the mere fact that he attended church and lived in a
Christian country was not enough to grant protection, that there was no information to
suggest that the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran knew about his conversion and
that he had not reported encountering any problems in that regard when he had returned to
the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2010 and 2012. The Department also refused the author
subsidiary protection, despite acknowledging that he might face the death penalty upon
return to the Islamic Republic of Iran on the basis of the charges against him. Based on the
information available to it, the Department concluded that torture was used in Iranian
prisons, but only in relation to offences relating to national security and that there was no
information about torture applied to suspects in criminal cases. It found, therefore, that
prosecution for murder in accordance with Iranian domestic law could not be considered to
constitute torture. The Department indicated that asylum and subsidiary protection could
not be granted to persons who, on the basis of objective reasons, are suspected of
committing a serious criminal offence of a non-political nature prior to entering Belarus.
The author was informed about the decision on 10 June 2014 and was placed in detention
on the same day pending deportation.
2.8
On 23 June 2014, the author lodged an appeal against the decision of the Department
of Citizenship and Migration with the Central District Court in Minsk, which rejected it on
4 August 2014. On 14 August 2014, the author filed a cassation appeal with Minsk City
Court. At the moment of submission of the present communication, the case was pending
before the Court.
The complaint
3.1
The author claims that the State party would be acting in violation of his rights
under articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant if he is expelled to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He
claims that, as a murder suspect, he will be detained, tortured in prison and, most probably,
sentenced to death without a fair trial.
3.2
The author alleges violation by the State party of his rights under article 9 of the
Covenant by reason of the five arrests between 2012 and 2014 for the purposes of
extradition and deportation. He claims that the arrests were arbitrary since he was not
brought promptly before a judge.
3.3
He also alleges that, if deported to the Islamic Republic of Iran, he will be separated
from his family for a long period of time, in violation of articles 17 and 23 of the Covenant.
3.4
In his subsequent submission, the author also claims that his deportation to the
Islamic Republic of Iran will be in violation of article 18, read in conjunction with articles 6,
7 and 14 (1) and (2) of the Covenant.
State party’s observations on admissibility
4.1
In a note verbale dated 9 January 2015, the State party challenged the admissibility
of the communication under articles 1, 2 and 5 of the Optional Protocol. It claims that,
although the author was detained, he had the right to correspondence and could have
submitted the communication himself, rather than through his wife. The State party also
asserts that authorization for the counsel should be signed by the author, not by his wife.
The State party considers that his wife, the counsel and Ms. A.K. at the Helsinki
1
The author referred, among others, to: the United States of America, Department of State, Country
reports on human rights practices for 2013: Iran, available at
https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/220564.pdf; General Assembly resolution 67/182; and
Amnesty International, “Annual Report: Iran 2013”, available at
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/annual-report-iran-2013/.
3