CCPR/C/132/D/3266/2018
Facts as presented by the author
2.1
The author is of Hazara ethnicity. He is originally from Ghazni, Afghanistan, but he
grew up in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He is homosexual and has converted to Christianity
while in the State party. The author notes that, as he grew up in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
he does not know Afghanistan and lacks a social network in that country. He claims to have
left the Islamic Republic of Iran because of stigmatization and pressure due to his sexual
orientation. He arrived in Sweden in 2015, where he applied for asylum. That application
was denied. The author notes that he was too ashamed to mention his sexual orientation in
his initial application for asylum.
2.2
The author has a boyfriend in the State party from whom he does not want to be
separated. They have been together for over two years. The author has been threatened by his
ex-boyfriend’s family in Afghanistan, as they feel he has violated the family’s honour. He
met his ex-boyfriend in the Islamic Republic of Iran when he was 13 years old. They had a
relationship for a year but their families found out about it and a conflict ensued between the
families. The author was beaten by his family, threatened with a knife by his boyfriend’s
brother and faced harassment in the Islamic Republic of Iran. His mother took him to see a
doctor to “cure him”. As the doctor told his mother that there was nothing to cure, his mother
took him to a “community leader” who told her the author had to cure himself of his sins by
praying and studying the Qur’an. The fact that his mother saw his homosexuality as a disease
affected the author’s self-esteem and made him ashamed of himself. He was therefore unable
to mention his sexual orientation in his initial application for asylum.
2.3
The author submitted an application for impediment to enforcement of the deportation
decision against him on 30 January 2018 on the basis of his sexual orientation. The
application was denied by the Migration Agency on 28 February 2018. The Agency noted
that he had not mentioned his sexual orientation in his first asylum interview, despite the fact
that at that point, he had already been in Sweden for two years. Nor did he invoke it during
the appeals proceedings or during the conversation with the Agency about his return to
Afghanistan after the expulsion order had gained legal force. The Agency noted that it did
not question that a person with a background in a country with negative views of
homosexuality might have difficulty in openly telling someone about their sexual orientation.
It noted, however, that at the time of the discussion about his return to Afghanistan, the author
had been in Sweden for almost two years and would have known that views about
homosexuality were more permissive in Sweden and could be invoked as grounds for asylum.
2.4
The author subsequently submitted a baptism certificate and invoked his conversion
and baptism on 12 June 2018 as a ground for impediment to enforcement of the deportation
decision against him. The Migration Agency rejected that application on 16 July 2018. It
found that the reasons provided by the author for his conversion were general in nature, and
that he had not made it probable that he had converted based on genuine religious conviction.
The decision was upheld by the Migration Court on 31 August 2018. The Court also found
the author to be vague and not credible in his account of events and unable to express his
feelings about his sexual orientation and conversion in a reliable way. The author’s
application for leave to appeal was denied by the Migration Court of Appeal on 9 October
2018. The author argues that the domestic authorities did not take into account his young age
and cultural background in assessing his asylum claims. He also argues that the domestic
authorities failed to understand that his choice to convert was linked to his sexual orientation
and to the severe harassment he was subjected to because of it while in the Islamic Republic
of Iran. The author notes that he has previously made one suicide attempt and will do so again
if he is deported to Afghanistan, as he refuses to relive the treatment to which he was
subjected while in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Complaint
3.
The author claims that his deportation to Afghanistan would expose him to a real risk
of treatment contrary to article 7 of the Covenant because of his sexual orientation and
conversion to Christianity. He claims that he would be at risk of violence if deported to
Afghanistan, as his ex-boyfriend’s family, who is powerful, have returned to Afghanistan,
and as he has received threats on social media attributed to both his faith and sexual
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