CCPR/C/130/D/2671/2015
requested the State party to take interim measures. On 10 November 2015, the State party
suspended execution of the deportation order against the author.
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author, who is of Tajik ethnicity and a Muslim, had been working since 2012 for
the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disability in Afghanistan. He was the
head of the office located in Pul-e Alam, in Logar Province. He was responsible for recording
and estimating damage in the areas attacked by the Taliban and for distributing humanitarian
aid. He would visit affected areas approximately twice a week, usually accompanied by two
co-workers, a driver and 10–12 police officers. In April 2014, the author received a telephone
call from the Taliban telling him to stop working for the Government and that unless he
surrendered to the Taliban he would be killed. The following morning, he told his supervisor
about the call, who reported the incident to the governor. The governor contacted the police
and the security forces, which showed up at the author’s workplace three days later. They
questioned the author and offered him protection at his workplace only. Two days later, the
author received another threatening call and, later on, several similar life-threatening calls.
He reported all the calls to his supervisor, who transmitted the messages to the police. They
confirmed that they could protect him at his workplace only. The author also received two
threatening letters, one of which was delivered by hand by an elderly man to the author’s
father at the mosque on 15 May 2014. Approximately 20 days later, the author received
another letter. The content of the letters was similar to that of the telephone calls. A copy of
the letters was given to the police, but they continued to refuse to provide protection to the
author outside of his workplace. As he feared for his life, the author left his work 13 days
after he had received the second written threat and decided to flee Afghanistan. 1 According
to the information gathered by the author, the threatening letters appear to have been written
by the Hizb-i Islami, which collaborated with the Taliban in Logar Province. According to
the information provided by the author, approximately 80 per cent of Logar Province was
controlled by the Taliban at the time of his submission to the Committee.
2.2
The author entered Denmark on 25 August 2014 without valid travel documents and
applied for asylum on the same day. His sister is resident in Denmark.
2.3
On 1 July 2015, the Danish Immigration Service refused the author’s asylum request.
On 21 September 2015, the Refugee Appeals Board upheld that decision. While considering
it a fact that the author had been employed as a public official with the Ministry of Labour,
Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disability in Logar Province, the Board expressed doubt, owing
to minor inconsistencies in his statements, that he had indeed found himself in conflict with
the Taliban as a result of his work for the Afghan Government.
2.4
In a letter dated 8 October 2015, the author submitted a request to the Refugee Appeals
Board to reopen his case, arguing that the interpretation provided throughout the asylum
proceedings had been unsatisfactory. He noted that even though he had raised that problem
several times before the authorities, his concerns had not been recorded in the minutes of the
hearings. On 8 February 2016, the Board declined the author’s request to reopen his asylum
case.
2.5
The author claims to have exhausted all domestic remedies.
Complaint
3.1
The author claims that there are substantial grounds for believing that if he were
returned to Afghanistan, he would be in danger of being deprived of his life or subjected to
torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as a result of having worked
for the Afghan Government. He alleges that the risk assessment carried out by the domestic
authorities had been erroneous, primarily because in the consideration of his appeal, the
Refugee Appeals Board failed to apply the guidelines of the Office of the United Nations
1
2
It appears from the supporting documents that the author left Afghanistan for Pakistan on 19 June
2014. He travelled on with a fake passport by plane to Italy. He arrived in Italy on an unspecified
date.