CAT/C/28/D/185/2001 page 5 2.10 Counsel contests the Swedish Immigration Board’s reasons for rejection. First, counsel contends that Mr. Karoui destroyed his passport to protect the person who helped him leave Tunisia, and that he awaited further documentation before applying for asylum. Secondly, Mr. Karoui was able to leave Tunisia on a passport in his own name, because the person who helped him arranged for the passport without registering his name. Counsel also contends that Mr. Karoui was sentenced to one and a half years in prison in 1993, but that because of a general amnesty, his sentence was reduced to one year as stated in the certificate from the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With regard to the Immigration authorities’ doubts about the authenticity of the notice of trial, counsel states that these are pre-printed forms containing only the information relevant in each situation. This does not imply that a form lacking some information is unauthentic. 2.11 Mr. Karoui appealed the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board, which rejected his application on 28 September 2000. He attached a declaration by Mr. Rashid Ghannouchi, chairman of Al-Nahdha movement and the Al-Nahdha Party of Tunisia of 18 July 2000, to his appeal. The chairman stated that Mr. Karoui is an active member of the movement, that Algerian authorities deported him in 1993 to Tunisia, where he was subjected to arrest, ill-treatment and interrogation, that he has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in absentia after he left Tunisia for Sweden, that his parents have been subjected to numerous interrogations and harassment, that his wife has been arrested, harassed and tortured, and that his daughter suffers psychologically because of this. 2.12 The Refugee Appeals Board confirmed the reasons for rejection given by the Swedish Immigration Board, and added that the political activities performed by the complainant, date far back in time, and that the political organization he supported was dissolved in 1992. The Board also noted that the complainant’s political activities were of minor character and at a low level within the organization. Furthermore, the Board disregarded the declarations submitted by the chairman of the Al-Nahdha Movement and the Al-Nahdha Party, since it had been informed that the chairman had submitted similar declarations in other cases where he had no knowledge of the persons he supported. It also noted that while Al-Nahdha was dissolved in 1992, the chairman’s letter dated from year 2000. 2.13 A further application for a review by the Refugee Appeals Board was rejected on 17 April 2001. Although Mr. Karoui attached several new documents to his latest application, including medico-legal reports, support letters from Amnesty International and a friend, the Refugee Board doubted his credibility, for the reasons given in its previous decision. The medico-legal report from a specialist in legal medicine at the Center of Torture- and Trauma Wounded, Karolinska Hospital, of 14 February 2001, describes a scar on Mr. Karoui’s finger, allegedly caused by someone burning him with a cigarette, a 1 by 1 cm pigmented area on his right shoulder and pains when touched 5 cm below this area, allegedly caused by beatings with batons, and a painful, defectively healed fracture on his right foot, allegedly caused by beating with a baton. The medico-legal evaluation from the same specialist of 6 March 2001, concluded that his physical symptoms correspond to the alleged torture, and that it is probable that he was subjected to torture. He also submitted a Psychiatric evaluation by a specialist in General Psychiatry at the Center of Torture- and Trauma Wounded, Karolinska Hospital, of 2 February 2001, stating that he has objective symptoms of PTSD, and that it is highly probable that he is telling the truth regarding allegations of torture, etc.

Select target paragraph3