CAT/C/23/D/127/1999
page 2
Annex
DECISION OF THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE UNDER ARTICLE 22
OF THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL,
INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT
TWENTY-THIRD SESSION
concerning
Communication No. 127/1999
Submitted by:
Z. T. (name withheld)
[represented by counsel]
Alleged victim:
The author
State party:
Norway
Date of communication:
25 January 1998
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Meeting on 19 November 1999,
Adopts the following:
Decision on admissibility
1.1
The author of the communication is Mr. Z. T., an Ethiopian national at present residing in
Norway, where his request for asylum has been denied and he risks deportation. He claims that
he would risk imprisonment and torture upon return to Ethiopia and that his forced return to that
country would therefore constitute a violation by Norway of article 3 of the Convention. The
author is represented by the Rådgivningsgruppa (The Advisory Group), a non-governmental
refugee and human rights organization.
1.2
In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee transmitted
the communication to the State party on 5 February 1999. Pursuant to rule 108, paragraph 9, of
the Committee’s rules of procedure, the State party was requested not to expel the author to
Ethiopia pending the consideration of his case by the Committee.
The facts as presented by the author
2.1
The author states that he is of Amharic ethnic origin born in Jinka where his father was a
judge. During his high school in Addis Ababa, the author participated in several demonstrations
against Haile Selaissie and in favour of Col. Mengistu. When Mengistu came to power in