communication No. 178/2001 to the State party on 23 January 2001. Pursuant to rule 108, paragraph
9, of the Committee's rules of procedure, the State party was requested not to expel the petitioner to
Iran pending the consideration of his case by the Committee. In a submission dated 20 March 2001,
the State party informed the Committee that the Swedish Migration Board decided, on 24 January
2001, to stay the enforcement of the expulsion order.
The facts as submitted
2.1 Counsel submits that the petitioner, who is Kurdish by descent and comes from the city of
Sanandaj, started in 1990 to take part in political activities on behalf of the interests of the Kurdish
people directed against the Iranian authorities. These activities included turning the photos of the
Ayatollah the wrong side around and encouraging students at his school to take part in
demonstrations. In February 1994 the petitioner allegedly was arrested and accused of distributing
leaflets at his school and writing slogans against the regime. He states that he was interrogated for
two days, and then tortured by methods such as beating on the bottom of the feet. After two months'
detention, the petitioner was released. He then discovered that he had been expelled from his school.
He has lately been working as a taxi driver. After his release, the petitioner stopped his political
activities for fear of persecution.
2.2. On 22 February 1999, demonstrations officially sanctioned by the Government were held in
Sanandaj to protest against the arrest by the Government of Turkey of Kurdish Workers Party leader
Abdullah Oçalan in Nairobi. The petitioner states that the Government's intention was to turn the
Kurdish people against the Governments of the United States of America and Israel.
2.3 The petitioner and about 15 of his friends planned to use the demonstrations to express their
opinions on the injustices suffered by the Kurdish people in Iran. They prepared posters and leaflets
with anti-Iranian and pro-Kurdistan slogans. After they started the demonstrations, thousands of
people joined in and began to shout anti-Government slogans, while the petitioner and his friends
handed out posters and leaflets. The military and Revolutionary Guards opened fire at the
demonstrators, and many were arrested. The petitioner's friend, Jamil, was shot and the petitioner
ran away. He considered it too risky to return to his family, so he hid in a friend's house for 13 days.
While hidden, the petitioner was informed that Revolutionary Guards had arrested his father and
brother. The petitioner left to stay with a relative in Ourmiyeh, where he stayed for 24 days. Another
relative provided him with a passport under a false name, and an exit visa. The petitioner travelled
to Van and Istanbul in Turkey, and after 20 days took a plane to Sweden.
2.4 The petitioner entered Sweden on 21 April 1999 and applied for asylum the following day. Upon
arrival, the petitioner carried neither passport nor identification document. The Swedish Migration
Board held an initial interview with the petitioner on 22 April 1999, lasting about one hour. A fuller
interview took place on 20 May, lasting for about four hours. On 8 September 1999, the Swedish
Migration Board rejected the petitioner's application for asylum. The Board found that the
petitioner's statements were not credible and that the petitioner had not proved that he risked
persecution if he returned to Iran.
2.5 The petitioner appealed to the Aliens Appeals Board, explaining that he carried no identification