CCPR/C/119/D/2253/2013
1.3
The author was deported to the Islamic Republic Iran on 10 June 2013. He was
escorted as far as the airport in Tehran. After having received the author’s expired Iranian
passport and a copy of the author’s Iranian proof of nationality, the Iranian authorities
accepted the author back into the country.
Factual background
2.1
The author and his parents are ethnic Kurds and Sunni Muslims. The author’s
parents fled the Islamic Republic of Iran to Iraq, where he was born in the Al-Tash camp in
Ramadi. They returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran when the author was 11 years old.
They lived in Sare Pole Zahab, where the author attended school for about four years. The
author states that he cannot read or write in Farsi or Kurdish. He alleges that he has not
been a member of any Kurdish organization, but that his brother was an active member of
the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan.
2.2
The author claims that in 2008, he started helping a friend, A.M., who distributed
medication smuggled to the Islamic Republic of Iran from Iraq. He was contacted by A.M.
because the author’s family owned land in a village by the border, and they had a card
allowing them to enter the town without being controlled. The author helped to transport
medication about 15 times. However, the last two times he did so, he found out that his
friend was also transporting political material from the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan.
2.3
On 22 October 2008, Iranian authorities searched the author’s house, asking for him.
He was absent, as he was visiting a friend living in the same town. In order to avoid being
arrested, the author went to hide in his cousin’s garage. While the author was hiding, his
brother came to visit and informed him that their father had been arrested by the
intelligence service. After hearing the news, the author decided to leave the country and
went to Turkey with the help of a smuggler. 1 He claims that he bribed the authorities to
stamp his passport without registering him in the computer system. The author indicates
that on his way to Denmark, he had been arrested in Greece, Germany and Italy, where his
fingerprints were taken. He also states that the smuggler told him not to tell the Danish
authorities his real date of departure from the Islamic Republic of Iran, i.e., the date
appearing in his passport. He claims that he followed the smuggler’s instructions because
he feared for his life and because his passport had been taken from him by the smuggler
while they were in Turkey.2
2.4
The author submits that after his departure, his father was questioned a couple of
times and was taken once to the police station to be questioned about the author’s
whereabouts. He also indicates that his brother informed him that the authorities had asked
about the author for about one month after his departure, and that he was told that his friend,
A.M., had been arrested just before the authorities searched the author’s house in October
2008.3 The author also claims that his brother has advised him not to return home, as he
risks being arrested.
2.5
On 9 March 2009, the author arrived in Denmark. Since he is illiterate, he was
unable to submit a written asylum application. The police interviewed him on 9 March, 26
May and 11 June 2009. On 11 November 2009, he had an interview with the Danish
1
2
3
2
The author first stated to the Danish authorities that he left the Islamic Republic of Iran around 19
February 2009. However, the Refugee Appeals Board pointed out in its decision that, according to the
stamp in his passport, the author had left on 29 October 2008.
The State party has indicated that the author entered Denmark without any valid travel documents.
However, his passport was later forwarded to an address in Denmark and was confiscated by the
Danish authorities.
In the decision of the Refugee Appeals Board, it is stated that the author told the Danish police on 5
May 2009 that his friend A.M. had been arrested around 15 February 2009. In the decision, the Board
also indicated that, in a different interview with the Danish police, held on 11 November 2009, the
author affirmed that A.M. had been arrested on 21 November 2008. When asked about the
contradiction, the author stated that he had mixed up the dates. The Board also indicated in the
decision that when asked about his friend A.M., the author had stated that he believed his friend was
still being detained, but that he did not know if he had been charged or convicted.