CAT/C/48/D/414/2010
Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD; abroad often referred to as CUDP or
KINIJIT). He actively campaigned for the candidates of that party and was placed on its
formal list of supporters. According to the complainant, after the elections resulted in a
KINIJIT success, the governing party began a crackdown on the opposition party, and
several members of the opposition were killed. The complainant was warned by a friend,
who had connections with the governing party, that he was a target and that the police were
looking for him. He left Ethiopia for Sudan in November 2005 and travelled from
Khartoum via Germany to Switzerland, where he arrived in June 2006 and applied for
asylum.
2.2
The complainant submits that he continues to be politically active in Switzerland,
that he is one of the founding members of KINIJIT Switzerland. He states that his political
interest is genuine and has participated in various demonstrations against the regime in
Addis Ababa since 2006. He writes Internet commentaries on recent political developments
and expresses his political opinions in online forums, including a well-known forum for
Ethiopian politics.
2.3
The complainant submitted his first asylum request, based on his activities in
Ethiopia, on 23 June 2006. The Swiss asylum authorities rejected his application on 18
August 2006 and on appeal on 18 July 2008. On 11 March 2009, the complainant lodged a
second asylum request. The request was rejected by the Federal Office for Migration on 30
April 2009 and by the Federal Administrative Court on 10 February 2010. Following the
latter judgement, the complainant was requested to leave Switzerland by 15 March 2010.
The complainant submits that if he failed to leave voluntarily, he would be forcibly returned
to Ethiopia.
2.4
The complainant submits that the Court found his position within the KINIJIT
movement and the nature of his involvement not sufficiently prominent to cause a wellfounded fear of persecution, although it acknowledged that the complainant was a founding
member of KINIJIT Switzerland and that he participated in various demonstrations and
political activities. The Court also stated that it cannot be presumed that his involvement
was of such nature that the Government of Ethiopia would perceive him as a threat to the
regime. It concluded that he faced no real risk of torture or other inhumane and degrading
treatment were he to return to Ethiopia.
2.5
The complainant submits that his activities relating to the election campaign in 2005
and the fact that he openly expressed his political opinion in discussions with governing
party officials, as well as the fact that he was an educated professional resulted in him being
noticed and targeted by the Government in Ethiopia. He maintains that the arrests made by
the Government of Ethiopia are not limited to high-level politicians and that the
Government is closely monitoring opposition movements,2 both within Ethiopia and in
exile. He submits that, following recently adopted anti-terrorism legislation, the
Government’s crackdown on political dissidents had intensified. A provision of the abovementioned legislation provides for 20 years of imprisonment for “whosoever writes, edits,
prints, publishes, publicizes, disseminates, shows, makes to be heard any promotional
statement encouraging, supporting or advancing terrorist acts”,3 and one analysis states that
“the legislation conflated political opposition with terrorism”.4 The complainant also refers
to an analysis by Human Rights Watch in relation to this law, which states that
2
The complainant refers to the United States Department of State 2009 Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices: Ethiopia.
3
The complainant refers to a report of the Committee to Protect Journalists, “Attacks on the press
2009: Ethiopia”.
4
Ibid.
3