CAT/C/48/D/414/2010
Annex
Decision of the Committee against Torture under article 22 of
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (forty-eighth session)
concerning
Communication No. 414/2010
Submitted by:
N.T.W. (represented by counsel, Tarig
Hassan)
Alleged victim:
The complainant
State party:
Switzerland
Date of complaint:
18 March 2010 (initial submission)
The Committee against Torture, established under article 17 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Meeting on 16 May 2012,
Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 414/2010, submitted to the
Committee against Torture by N.T.W. under article 22 of the Convention against Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
Having taken into account all information made available to it by the complainant,
his counsel and the State party,
Adopts the following:
Decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention against
Torture
1.1
The complainant is N.T.W., a national of Ethiopia, born in 1974. The complainant is
an asylum seeker, whose application for asylum was rejected. He claims that his forced
return to Ethiopia would constitute a violation by Switzerland of article 3 of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is
represented by counsel, Tarig Hassan.
1.2
On 24 March 2010, under former rule 108, paragraph 1, of the Committee’s rules of
procedure,1 the Committee requested the State party not to expel the complainant to
Ethiopia while his complaint was under consideration by the Committee.
The facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The complainant is an Ethiopian citizen of Oromo ethnicity who grew up in Addis
Ababa and worked as a building constructor after studying architecture. During the
electoral campaign in 2005, he became interested in politics and joined the supporters of the
1
2
Rule 114, paragraph 1, of the current rules of procedure (CAT/C/3/Rev.5).