CAT/C/35/D/254/2004
page 3
The facts as submitted by the complainant
2.1
The complainant was an official in the Pakistani Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism
from 1989 on. He obtained the post as a result of the contacts maintained by his father with the
Minister, Mushahid Hussain Sayyed. The Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was
dismissed on 12 October 1999. The new Government of General Pervez Musharraf then opened
an investigation into the activities of the former Minister, who was suspected of corruption and
placed under house arrest. In December 1999 a colleague of the complainant, Mr. Mirani,
disappeared. The complainant subsequently learned through a friend who at the time worked for
the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that Mr. Mirani had been arrested and tortured by the
Bureau, and that before his death in detention he had told them that the complainant was close to
the Minister.
2.2
Fearing that he might suffer the same fate as his colleague, the complainant left the
country on 22 February 2000 on his official passport. He did so illegally, since the new
Government had introduced a new law requiring all officials to obtain official authorization,
the “no-objection certificate”, from the secret service before leaving the country. The
complainant obtained authorization to leave the country from his superiors but not the required
authorization from the secret service. After he had left the country, on several occasions men
asked his father where he was. His mother thought that the authorities wanted to arrest their
son.1
2.3
The complainant arrived in Europe on 21 May 2000 and filed an application for asylum
in Switzerland on 22 May 2000. In a decision of 20 June 2002 the application was rejected by
the Federal Office for Refugees (ODR), which ordered his expulsion from Swiss territory.
On 7 April 2004 the Asylum Appeal Commission (CRA) rejected the complainant’s appeal.
The Commission considered that the complainant had no further reason to fear political
persecution since the Minister with whom he had maintained close relations was no longer
under house arrest. The Commission thus upheld the decision by the Federal Office for
Refugees ordering his expulsion. In a letter dated 16 April 2004 the Federal Office for Refugees
set 11 June 2004 as the date on which he must leave Switzerland. On 14 June 2004 the
complainant filed an application for review with suspensory effect with the Asylum Appeal
Commission. The application was rejected on 23 June 2004. On 15 July 2004 the complainant
had sought a deferral of the departure date, on the ground that he was required to give
two months’ notice to leave his job. On 30 July 2004 the Federal Office for Refugees held that
this ground was not such as to justify deferral. The complainant is no longer authorized to stay
in Switzerland and may thus be expelled to Pakistan at any time.
The complaint
3.1
The complainant asserts that there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be
subjected to torture if returned to Pakistan and that his expulsion to that country would constitute
a violation by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention.
3.2
He fears being subjected to torture since he was a close collaborator of the former
Minister, Mr. Mushahid Hussain Sayyed. In addition, he is afraid that the authorities will initiate
proceedings against him since he left the country illegally in that he did not obtain the required