CAT/C/71/D/908/2019
United Nations
Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Distr.: General
15 September 2021
Original: English
Committee against Torture
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 22 of the
Convention, concerning communication No. 908/2019*, **
Communication submitted by:
A.B. (represented by counsel, N.R. and A.R.)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Sweden
Date of complaint:
4 January 2019 (initial submission)
Document references:
Decision taken pursuant to rule 115 of the
Committee’s rules of procedure, transmitted to
the State party on 18 February 2019 (not issued
in document form)
Date of adoption of decision:
21 July 2021
Subject matter:
Deportation to Afghanistan
Procedural issue:
Admissibility – manifestly ill-founded
Substantive issues:
Non-refoulement; torture
Article of the Convention:
3
1.1
The complainant is A.B., a national of Afghanistan. His asylum application has been
rejected by Sweden and he risks being deported to Afghanistan. He claims that his removal
to Afghanistan would constitute a violation by the State party of his rights under article 3 of
the Convention. The complainant is represented by counsel.
1.2
The communication was registered on 18 February 2020 and the Committee, acting
through its Rapporteur on new complaints and interim measures, decided not to grant interim
measures.
Factual background
2.1
The complainant is of Hazara ethnicity. He was born a Shia Muslim in Ghazni
Province, Afghanistan. When he was 13 years old, the Taliban came to his town and started
asking the villagers for weapons and money. In order to escape the threat represented by the
presence of the Taliban, the complainant fled with his family to Herat Province. There, many
Hazara people, including his brother, were executed by a group that had come from the
Islamic Republic of Iran and was persecuting Hazaras. The complainant indicated that, later,
this group was joined by the Taliban, which continued to harass and torture Hazaras. While
he was in Herat Province, the complainant worked as a carpenter. After troops of the United
* Adopted by the Committee at its seventy-first session (12–30 July 2021).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Essadia Belmir, Claude Heller, Erdoğan İşcan, Liu Huawen, Ilvija Pūce, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón,
Sébastien Touzé, Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Peter Vedel Kessing.
GE.21-12947(E)