CCPR/C/115/D/2284/2013
deporting the author to Chad while the communication was being examined. This
request to the State party was reiterated on 18 December 2013 and 5 June 2014.
1.4 On 5 February 2014, as part of its observations on the admissibility and the
merits of the communication, the State party informed the Committee that it agreed to
temporarily refrain from deporting the author.
The facts as presented by the author 1
2.1 Following the events that occurred in N’Djamena on 2 and 3 February 2008,
during which rebel groups attacked the capital and temporarily took control, the author
and his family left their home to seek refuge in Kousseri. During their absence, and
because their home was one of the few that had a well, the rebels entered their home
and drew water from the well. After the rebels had been driven out of the city, the
author and his family were able to return to their home. At approximately 1 a.m. on
the night of 20 March 2008, which was the day after they had returned home, the
author was woken by a dozen men wearing turbans who claimed to be members of the
National Security Agency. They accused him of having helped the rebels by letting
them into his home to get water. Without giving him a chance to explain, some of the
men struck him, then blindfolded him and took him away to a secret location.
2.2 The author was held incommunicado and questioned about his movements
during the war; about the Association pour la promotion des libertés fondamentales au
Tchad (Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Freedoms in Chad), of w hich he
was a member; about their president; and about the rebellion in general. He was
beaten, threatened and intimidated and still has a scar on his left leg. The author’s
detention lasted for four days, until 24 March 2008, when an officer offered to fr ee
him in exchange for his car. The officer also told him that, if he refused, he would be
put to death like others who had supported the rebels. The author agreed to sign a
number of documents for his release. The officer who had helped him escape drove
him to the border with Cameroon, where the author, with the help of his employer,
was able to obtain a visa for the United States. While in Cameroon, the author learned
that his home and several others in the neighbourhood had been destroyed by fire and
that he was still being sought by officers of the National Security Agency. The
author’s three children, born on 16 April 1998, 29 September 2001 and 20 August
2006, remain in Chad to this day.
2.3 The author took advantage of the fact that one of his uncles worked at an airport
in Chad to purchase a low-cost ticket to the United States and left Chad by plane on 13
April 2008. From the United States, the author, who does not speak English and has
family in Canada, crossed the Canadian border on 29 April 2008 a nd claimed refugee
status there.
2.4 In support of his application to the Committee, the author provided an undated
statement from Souleymane Guengueng 2 and a letter from Brian McDonough dated 12
December 2012. Mr. Guengueng states that F.M., whom he met i n Montreal in January
2013, had in fact been held prisoner in Chad, that he narrowly escaped death and that
if he were to return he would again be in mortal danger. The letter from Mr.
McDonough, lawyer and Director of the Social Action Office of the Montr eal
__________________
1
2
GE.15-21665
The author submitted additional information on 12, 18 and 21 November 2013 and on 6 and 18
December 2013. For the purposes of precision and thoroughness, this section is also based on the
judicial and administrative decisions adopted by the Canadian courts and outlines the remedies
sought by the author even in those cases where the remedies or their outco mes post-date the
author’s submission of the communication to the Committee.
Honorary president of the Association des victimes de crimes et répressions politiques au Tchad
(Association of Victims of Political Repression and Crime in Chad), named human rights defender
of the year, 2002, by Human Rights Watch.
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