CCPR/C/123/D/2328/2014
requested the State party to refrain from deporting the author to Afghanistan while his case
was under consideration by the Committee. On 16 January 2014, the Danish Refugee
Appeals Board extended the time limit for the author’s departure from the State party until
further notice, in accordance with the Committee’s request.
The facts as submitted by the author1
2.1
The author is an ethnic Hazara of the Shia Muslim faith from the village of Siapita
(Ziapetaw) in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan. His father, who owned a shop in Jalriz, as
well as three cars, had been subjected to extortion by the Taliban over a period of time after
having expressed his favourable views of the Government of Afghanistan and the
international forces. The Taliban had also believed that the author’s father was a spy for the
authorities but it was not the case. He was merely satisfied with the rebuilding of the
country and the development, and had been outspoken about it with the others in his shop.
The Taliban had extorted money from the author’s father, and he therefore decided to send
the author, the family’s youngest son who was unmarried, abroad for protection. The
author’s elder brother was married and had a small child, and the author’s father himself
could not leave Afghanistan, because he could not afford to take the entire family out of the
country.
2.2
The author first departed Afghanistan illegally2 in early 2008 and arrived in Greece
on 28 May 2008, where he was arrested by the Greek authorities on arrival and detained for
between 10 and 12 days. He then had an unauthorized stay in Greece until November 2008
before being sent to Turkey by the Greek authorities. In Turkey, he was detained for 13
days until his family transferred money to pay for an airline ticket back to Afghanistan. The
author returned to Afghanistan in December 2008. About four and a half months later, the
Taliban demanded such a large sum of money that the author’s family realized that they
would not be able to pay the requested amount before the deadline given to the author’s
father by the Taliban. For that reason, on an unspecified date, the Taliban came at night to
the house in which the author’s family lived and took his father and elder brother with them,
and none of them were seen again. On that occasion, the Taliban also beat the author’s
mother, sister and sister-in-law and asked about the author’s whereabouts. The author
happened to spend that night at the house of his maternal uncle, who also lived in Siapita.
The following morning, the author’s mother came to the uncle’s house, where she told the
author that his father and brother had been taken away by the Taliban after a search of their
house. She gave the author 50,000 afghanis, so that he could leave the country. The
author’s mother believed that if he had been there when the Taliban searched their house,
they would have also taken him with them.
2.3
In March or April 2009, the author left Afghanistan for the second time and travelled
through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden to Norway, where he
applied for asylum on 24 July 2009. He was refused asylum in Norway on 9 November
2009 and then the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration decided that he had to be returned
to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation.
2.4
On 23 January 2010, the author entered Denmark without any valid travel
documents and applied for asylum on the same day. As his asylum grounds, the author
referred to his fear of being kidnapped by the Taliban in case of his return to Afghanistan.
On 9 June 2011, the Danish Immigration Service rejected the author’s asylum application.
On 25 August 2011, the Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs (now the
Ministry of Justice) refused the author’s application for a residence permit on humanitarian
grounds.3 The Refugee Appeals Board upheld the decision of the Immigration Service on
23 January 2012.
2.5
The author submits that he has exhausted all available domestic remedies, since the
decision of the Board is not subject to appeal before a court.
1
2
3
2
The facts on which the present communication is based have been reconstructed on the basis of the
author’s own incomplete account, the decision of the Refugee Appeals Board of 23 January 2012 and
other supporting documents available on file.
The author does not provide further details on this matter.
Reference is made to section 9b (1) of the Aliens Act.