CCPR/C/128/D/3032/2017
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author lived with his parents and older brother in the Nawur village of the
Ghazni province in Afghanistan. His parents were Christians and practised their religion in
secrecy at home. His father worked for the Provincial Reconstruction Team and made
sufficient earnings so that the family had some protection. The family had little contact with
neighbours and had no relatives. At Easter, the author’s mother would give bread and fruit
to two or three families who lived nearby. Inside the author’s house was a room for prayer,
and the author’s father used to read the Bible. The family also had a cross and pictures of
Mary (the mother of Jesus) and the baby Jesus that were kept hidden. They would pray at
every meal, thanking God for the food. The author’s father would say that Jesus was the
saviour. The author and his brother did not go to school because schools were in mosques
and local clergy did not allow them to study there because of their religion. The author and
his brother spent most of their time at home helping with farming. They both carried small
wooden crosses that their father had made for them.
2.2
Two days after his tenth birthday, the author was playing in the field with his brother
when they heard screaming and gunfire. They saw cars and armed people outside their
house. The author believes that these people were affiliated with the Taliban. After a while,
the cars left, and the author and his brother returned to the house to find that their parents
were gone. They called their father’s colleague who used to give their father a ride to work
every morning. The colleague took the brothers to Ghazni where a smuggler took them to
Pakistan and then to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
2.3
The author and his brother spent five years in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They
worked in a plastic factory in Tehran. The author’s brother was in a car accident and lost
one leg while in the country. Owing to their illegal status, they were afraid of being caught
by the police. As they lived at the factory, they did not interact with any Christians. They
would pray, however, and they wore their crosses underneath their shirts. One day, the
author’s supervisor saw his cross and slapped his face so hard that he hurt his ear. He still
has a problem with that ear and had surgery on it after arriving in Sweden. The author’s
brother borrowed money from his employer to send the author to Sweden. The brother
himself could not go because of his leg. A smuggler took the author to Turkey by car. After
staying in Istanbul for six months, the author was put on a boat to Italy and subsequently
driven by car to Sweden.
2.4
On 29 August 2014, the author applied for asylum in Sweden. He was initially
assigned a legal guardian and moved to a foster family in 2015. He regularly attended a
local church, gatherings for Bible studies, and Christian camps and conferences. In August
2015, he was baptized during a big camp gathering, which was attended by more than 200
people.
2.5
On 21 August 2015, the Migration Agency rejected the author’s asylum application,
finding his account to be too brief, not detailed and contradictory. The Agency did not
question that the author was going to church regularly in Sweden, but questioned whether
his faith was genuine. The Agency concluded that the author’s accounts as to his Christian
upbringing in Afghanistan and his wish to live a Christian life in Sweden were not credible.
2.6
On 11 November 2015, the Migration Court remitted the case to the Agency, as the
Agency’s decision did not specify a country to which the author was to be expelled. On 30
December 2015, the Agency again rejected the author’s application. On 31 March 2016, the
Migration Court denied the author’s appeal. On 19 May 2016, the Migration Court of
Appeals rejected the author’s appeal. From that moment, the decision of the Migration
Court entered into force, and all ordinary domestic remedies were exhausted. The deadline
for the author’s voluntary departure from Sweden was set for 16 September 2016. On that
date, the author left Sweden for Germany and tried to apply for asylum there. However,
under the Dublin III Regulation, Germany ordered the author’s return to Sweden on 21
September 2016.
2.7 On 12 December 2016, the author submitted an application to the Migration Agency,
claiming impediments to enforcement of his expulsion. In support, the author enclosed his
legal guardian’s personal statement, printouts of the author’s Facebook page containing
Bible quotes and prayers, his pastor’s certification and several articles about the situation of
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