CAT/C/46/D/310/2007
counsel informed the Committee that he had been unable to convince the complainant to
quit hiding due to the latter’s fear of being returned to Syria.
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant belongs to the Christian minority in Syria. In 1975, his family
moved to Lebanon, where he joined the Lebanese Forces during the civil war in the 1980s,
i.e. the Samir Jahjahs military group, an organization hostile to Syria. He took part in armed
combat against the Syrian forces.
2.2
On 10 June 1989, the complainant married Mrs. Fehima Melki in Beirut. Before
that, in May 1989, Mrs. Melki was informed that she had been granted a residence and
work permit in Sweden, where her family had lived since 1986. In September 1989,
following her arrival in Sweden, she applied for residence and work permits on behalf of
the complainant, which were granted for a period of six months in December 1989 and later
extended until January 1991 based on their marriage. In 1989 or 1990, the complainant
arrived in Sweden. On 14 November 1990, he applied for a resident permit, a work permit
and an alien’s passport.
2.3
On 1 September 1991, the complainant had a fight with two men in a café in
Norrköping, during which he stabbed one of the men in the back with a sharp object. As a
result, the man died.
2.4
By judgment of 3 October 1991, the District Court of Norrköping convicted the
complainant of manslaughter, sentenced him to 8 years’ imprisonment and ordered his
expulsion from Sweden once he served his prison sentence. The expulsion order included a
permanent prohibition to return to Sweden. When determining the length of the prison
sentence, the Court considered as a mitigating factor that the complainant would be
expelled. During the proceedings, the Swedish Immigration Board submitted an advisory
opinion, noting that the complainant had not applied for asylum and that there were no
impediments to him being expelled.
2.5
On 18 October 1991, the Swedish Immigration Board rejected the complainant’s
application for a resident and a work permit because of the expulsion order against him.
2.6
The complainant appealed the judgment of the District Court only insofar as it
concerned his expulsion. On 12 November 1991, the Göta Court of Appeal confirmed the
lower court’s judgment. On 20 December 1991, after the Supreme Court had decided not to
grant leave to appeal, the expulsion order became final.
2.7
In August 1993, while serving his prison sentence, the complainant lodged an
application for his expulsion order to be revoked, submitting that in 1979, he had been
recruited by force by a Christian Falangist-Assyrian military organization, Rabeta ElSoryanie, and had been involved in armed combat against Muslim forces during the
Lebanese civil war: On several occasions, he was wounded by shell splinters and gunshots.
In 1989, he was captured by other Christian forces under General Aoun’s command,
detained, tortured with electrical shocks and by suspension in a water-filled tyre, and forced
to fight on their side. After six months, he managed to escape and return to his own forces,
and later to Sweden. He contended that, as Syria occupied most of Lebanon, he would be at
risk of being persecuted, tortured and executed upon return to Lebanon due to his
engagement in the Falangist forces during the civil war. On 3 February 1994, the
Government rejected the application finding that there were no special grounds to revoke
the expulsion order.
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