CAT/C/46/D/336/2008
belonging to the ethnic group of Sikhs. At the time of submission of the present complaint
they were residing in Switzerland and were subject to orders to leave to India.2 They claim
that their deportation from Switzerland to India would constitute a violation of article 3 of
the Convention against Torture. They are represented by counsel, Mr. Werner Spirig.3
1.2
In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee
brought the complaint to the State party’s attention by Note Verbale, dated 25 February
2008. At the same time, the Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures requested
the State party not to deport the complainants to India while their case is under
consideration by the Committee, in accordance with rule 114, paragraph 1 (previously rule
108, paragraph 1), of the Committee's Rules of procedure. On 4 March 2008, the State
party informed the Committee that the complainants will not be deported while their case is
being examined by the Committee.
The facts as presented by the complainants
2.1
On 29 September 1981, Karan Singh and Jasvir Singh were among a group of five
persons who high jacked an airplane of the Indian Airlines on its flight between New Dehli
and Srinagar (Kashmir) to Lahore in Pakistan. With this action, they protested against the
arrest of Mr. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwala, the leader of the movement fighting to have
a separate Sikh state, and the killing of 36 Sikhs by the Indian security forces. At the time
of this event, Karan Singh and Jasvir Singh were both members of groups which wanted a
separate Sikh state, respectively the All India Sikh Students’ Federation and Dal Khalsa.
2.2
In 1984, Dalip Singh Khalsa and Harminder Singh Khalsa were among a group of
nine persons who high jacked an airplane of the Indian Airlines to Pakistan to respond to
the attack of the Indian army on the Sikh Holy City of Amritsar and to draw the attention of
the international community to the killings of thousands of innocents. The group belonged
to the All India Sikh Students’ Federation.
2.3
None of the passengers in either airplane were injured. The complainants were
arrested by the Pakistan police. They were tried before a special court in Lahore. In January
1986, Dalip Singh Khalsa and Harminder Singh Khalsa were sentenced to death but their
sentences were commuted into life imprisonments based on a general amnesty following
the accession of Mrs. Benazir Bhutto to the post of Prime Minister. Karan Singh and Jasvir
Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment. All complainants were released from prison at
the end of 1994 and were ordered to leave the country. They left Pakistan and went to
Switzerland where they applied for asylum immediately upon arrival in 1995.
2.4
In Switzerland, the complainants were heard by the Swiss Federal Office for
Refugees, which rejected their asylum claims on 10 July 1998. The complainants filed
appeals, which the Swiss Asylum Board rejected on 7 March 2003. From 7 March 2003 to
19 December 2007, the complainants filed several petitions for the negative asylum
decisions to be reconsidered, which were all rejected. On 19 December 2007, the Federal
Administrative Tribunal gave its final decision, confirming the refusal to grant them
1943, lives apart from the rest of his family, which is in India. Mr. Dalip Singh Khalsa, born on 20
April 1953, lives apart from the rest of his family, which is in India.
2
The first, second and third complainants were ordered to leave by 22 February 2008 and the fourth
by 31 January 2008. The counsel submits that, according to the law in force as of 1 January 2008,
after those dates the complainants could have been arrested and deported at any moment.
3
The complainants submitted four separate communications but indicated that the communications
are identical because they follow the same reasoning. Accordingly the communications were
registered as one case.
3