CAT/C/18/D/34/1995
page 3
2.2
On 4 April 1983, the author was again arrested and his house was
searched. He claims that he was ill-treated during the interrogations and, in
particular, that he was caned after having his feet and head submerged in ice,
that the next day the police officers extinguished cigarettes on his body
while he was dressed only in underclothes, that he still bears the scars from
those burns, and that his wife was only allowed to visit him after six months.
Subsequently, he was convicted for his political activities and for stealing
the licence plate of a car and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
2.3
Seven months after his release, the author's brother-in-law fled the
country, and the author was detained for three hours and questioned about the
whereabouts of his brother-in-law. The author then moved to Teheran, but
returned to his home town after three years. In February or March 1989, he
was recognized by a client of his father's firm as the person who had thrown
the Molotov cocktail seven years earlier. In panic, he fled to Teheran. He
claims that his parents were visited regularly by the police and questioned
about his whereabouts. After a year, he decided to leave the country, also
because his son, who was born on 23 January 1984, had reached school age and
he was afraid that his son's enrolment in school would lead to the police
discovering his whereabouts. With a false passport he fled the country,
together with his wife and their two children, and applied for asylum in
Switzerland on 2 May 1990.
2.4
On 27 August 1992, his application was refused by the Federal Office for
Refugees, which considered his story not credible and full of inconsistencies.
It also considered that the author's wife was not aware of any political
activities on the part of her husband. The Appeal Commission rejected his
appeal on 26 January 1993, considering that the author's claim and story were
illogical and revealed no practical experience in illegal political activities
and were moreover full of contradictions.
2.5
On 26 April 1993, the author, represented by the Beratungsstelle für
Asylsuchende der Region Basel, filed a request for reconsideration, based
on his activities in Switzerland for the Armenian and Persian Aid
Organization (APHO), which, according to the author, is considered an illegal
organization in Iran. The author refers in this connection to three attempts
to murder the leader of the APHO in Zurich and claims that these attempts
prove that APHO members are being persecuted by Iran. The author stated that
he had distributed leaflets and helped run various APHO stands, notably at a
demonstration in Bern. In support of his statements he presented an APHO
membership card and stand permits issued in his name, and photos showing his
activities. He also said that incidents involving representatives of the
Government of Iran had occurred in May 1991 (when a friend of the brother of
the President of the Iranian Council of Ministers threatened APHO members with
a pistol) and in June 1992 (when the Iranian consul visited the APHO stand and
attempted to identify the participants). The author stated that he had
reported the incident to the police the same day, in his capacity as the
person in charge of the stand. In his request for review he alleged that his
activity within the APHO would render him liable to treatment contrary to
article 3 of the Convention if he returned to Iran.
2.6
By a decision of 5 May 1993, the Federal Office for Refugees refused to
consider his request for review. The Appeals Commission also declared his