CAT/C/52/D/481/2011
The facts as submitted by the complainants
2.1
K.N. was an active member of the illegal Communist opposition party Komala.1 He
collected funds and recruited new members for Komala. By 1982, K.N. had already been
arrested and spent five years in prison. In August 2008, he travelled to Iraq, where he met
with two members of Komala. The Iranian Secret Service attempted to arrest him upon his
return to the Islamic Republic of Iran on 29 August 2008. Thereafter, Secret Service agents
visited the complainants at their home on three occasions, when K.N. was absent. The
agents beat F.W. on each of these occasions. S.N. was helping his father by taking care of
all computer-related tasks for Komala. Because the Secret Service had seized the family
computer on 29 August 2008, the complainants maintain that S.N.’s involvement in his
father’s work put him at risk of harm.
2.2
K.N. and S.N. participated in a demonstration against the Iranian president in April
2009; they were filmed and photographed at the event, and their pictures were broadcast in
the Islamic Republic of Iran on television in a Farsi-language programme. Reports and
photographs of K.N. and S.N. were also published on websites, including that of the
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR).2 F.W. participated in an event
promoting women’s rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After the presidential elections
in the Islamic Republic of Iran, K.N. and S.N. participated in demonstrations, including one
on 25 June 2009. Images from that demonstration were posted on the Internet.3 Fearing
reprisals and persecution due to S.N.’s and K.N.’s involvement in Komala, the family left
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The complaint
3.1
The complainants assert that Switzerland would be violating their rights under
article 3 of the Convention by forcibly deporting them to the Islamic Republic of Iran,
where their lives and security would be threatened, primarily on account of K.N.’s political
activities against the Iranian regime. The complainants state that “they incur the highest risk
to be tortured in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a prison or outside, and that they even risk
the death penalty.” The complainants also assert that F.W. is in a critical state of health and
would therefore be disproportionately affected by any adverse action by the Iranian
authorities.
3.2
The complainants maintain that political opponents in the Islamic Republic of Iran
are frequently and increasingly sanctioned or tortured, and that the Iranian authorities
1
2
3
The complainants provide a copy of Komala’s website (www.komalah.org/english/index.htm), which
states that the purpose of Komala is to establish a new kind of Marxist society based on freedom,
equality and social justice.
The complainants refer to www.ifir.ch (site not available), www.hambastegi.org, and
www.rowzane.com. They provide copies of several photographs published on the IFIR website
purporting to depict K.N., F.W. and S.N. participating in IFIR demonstrations against Islamic rule.
Other photographs published on the IFIR site purport to depict K.N. and F.W. attending an IFIR
meeting, and K.N. and S.N. participating in a demonstration on behalf of Neda Agha-Soltan. The
complainants also provide copies of similar photographs published on the website www.pishgam.ch
(site not available) and purporting to depict K.N. and S.N. participating in demonstrations against the
Iranian regime. They also provide photographs published on ex-muslime.blogspot.com and
wegalerie.blogspot.com, purporting to depict K.N. participating in a demonstration against Iranian
membership of the International Labour Organization, and photographs from an unidentified source,
dated 11 February 2010, purporting to depict K.N. participating in a demonstration against the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
The complainants cite www.youtube.com.
3