CAT/C/25/D/149/1999
page 3
at Ozghol police station in the Lavison district of Tehran. According to the author, she has not
seen the man since, but claims that since her arrival in Sweden she has learned that he confessed
under torture to adultery and was imprisoned and sentenced to death by stoning.
2.5.
The author says that she was harshly questioned by the Zeinab sisters, the female
equivalents of the Pasdaran who investigate women suspected of “un-Islamic behaviour”, and
was informed that her case had been transmitted to the Revolutionary Court. When it was
discovered that the author was not only a martyr’s widow but also the sighe wife of a powerful
ayatollah, the Pasdaran contacted him. The author was taken to the ayatollah’s home where she
was severely beaten by him for five or six hours. After two days the author was allowed to leave
and the ayatollah used his influence to stop the case being sent to the Revolutionary Court.
2.6.
The author states that prior to these events she had, after certain difficulties obtained a
visa to visit her sister-in-law in Sweden. The trip was to take place the day after she left the
home of the ayatollah. According to the information submitted, the author had planned to
continue from Sweden to Canada where she and her lover hoped to be able to emigrate since he
had family there, including a son. She left Iran with her younger son on a valid passport and the
visa previously obtained, without difficulty.
2.7.
The author and her son arrived in Sweden on 23 December 1997 and applied for
asylum on 29 December 1997. The Swedish Immigration Board rejected the author’s asylum
claim on 13 July 1998. On 29 October 1999, the Aliens Appeal Board dismissed her appeal.
2.8.
The author submits that since her departure from Iran she has been sentenced to death by
stoning for adultery. Her sister-in-law in Sweden has been contacted by the ayatollah who told
her that the author had been convicted. She was also told that the authorities had found films and
photographs of the couple in the Christian man’s apartment, which had been used as evidence.
2.9.
The author draws the attention of the Committee to a report from the Swedish Embassy
in Iran which states that chapter I of the Iranian hudud law “deals with adultery, including
whoring, and incest, satisfactory evidence of which is a confession repeated four times or
testimony by four righteous men with the alternative of three men and two women, all of whom
must be eyewitnesses. Capital punishment follows in cases of incest and other specified cases,
e.g. when the adulterer is a non-Muslim and the abused a Muslim woman. Stoning is called for
when the adulterer is married”. The report further underlines that even if these strict rules of
evidence are not met, the author can still be sentenced to death under the criminal law, where the
rules of evidence are more flexible.
2.10. The author further draws the attention of the Committee to documentation submitted to
the Swedish immigration authorities to support her claim, including a certificate testifying to her
status as the wife of a martyr. She also includes a medical certificate from Kungälvs Psychiatric
Hospital indicating that she suffers from anxiety, insomnia, suicidal thoughts and a strong fear
for her personal safety if she were returned to Iran. The certificate states that the author has
symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome combined with clinical depression.