CASE OF M.A. v. SWITZERLAND
Violation of Article 3 - Prohibition of torture (Article 3 - Expulsion) (Conditional) (Iran)
András Sajó;Egidijus Kūris;Guido Raimondi;Helen Keller;Jon Fridrik Kjølbro;Nebojša Vučinić;Paul Lemmens
6. The applicant is an Iranian national who was born on 12 October 1977 in Teheran and currently lives in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. 7. The applicant entered Switzerland illegally on 26 June 2011 and applied for asylum the next day. He had two hearings before the Federal Migration Board (Bundesamt für Migration – hereafter “the Migration Board”). 8. The first hearing was a summary interview at the Migration Board’s “Centre for Reception and Procedure” (Empfangs- und Verfahrenszentrum) in Basel on 6 July 2011. The applicant gave an account of the alleged events in Iran leading to his escape from his home country. This account was summarised by the Migration Board’s interviewer in official minutes. At the beginning of this summary, the interviewer noted: “For lack of staff, the facts - summarised under no. 15 of the minutes - were not established in detail.” (“Es wird aus Kapazitätsgründen auf eine vertiefte Abklärung zu Pt. 15 verzichtet.”). An interpreter was present during the hearing and the minutes were translated for the applicant prior to his signing. 9. During the hearing the applicant stated that, following serious ballotrigging after the Iranian presidential elections on 12 June 2009, anti-regime demonstrations had started to take place. He had participated in almost all these demonstrations until the beginning of March 2011. He claimed that he and his friends had organised peaceful demonstrations every Tuesday. As the demonstrations had been brutally oppressed by the Iranian regime, he and his friends had documented the demonstrations and had circulated this documentation to people. He further claimed that during the last demonstration he had attended, at the beginning of March 2011, several of his friends had been arrested. He alleged that they had been tortured and that one of them had probably mentioned his name to the Iranian authorities and had told them about his participation in the demonstrations. Consequently, on 10 May 2011, a summons issued by the Revolutionary Court of Teheran had been delivered to his residence, namely his parents’ house in Karaj, by a court courier. He had not been present at the time of delivery as he had been on a visit to his sister’s house in Teheran. The summons had ordered him to appear in court on 12 May 2011. Fearing that he might be arrested upon his appearance, he had not presented himself in court but had hidden at his sister’s home and at the homes of various friends in Teheran. As a result of his non-appearance before the court, agents of the secret service had come to his parents’ house the following day (13 May 2011) in order to arrest him. Because of his absence, his father had been arrested instead. The applicant had been left a message that he should report to the district police, otherwise his father would remain in detention. For fear of arrest and on his family’s advice, he had fled the country without legal exit papers in June 2011. 10. In order to support his account during the first hearing, the applicant submitted the allegedly original summons of the Revolutionary Court of Teheran of 10 May 2011. He also submitted documentary material pertaining to the anti-regime demonstrations, which had allegedly been produced by him and his friends. 11. The second, more detailed hearing took place at the Migration Board’s office in Berne 21 months after the first hearing, on 5 April 2013. A member of the non-governmental Aid Organisation of the Protestant Church of Switzerland (Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirche Schweiz) was present as a neutral witness in order to guarantee the fairness of the hearing. He had the opportunity to add comments at the end of the minutes of the hearing in the event that he had witnessed any irregularities, but did not note down any such observations. Again, an interpreter was present during the hearing and the minutes were translated for the applicant prior to his signing. 12. The applicant again gave an account of the alleged events in Iran leading up to his escape. With regard to the events on the day when the summons had allegedly been delivered to his parents’ house (10 May 2011), the applicant now described that members of the Ettelaad security service had come to his parents’ house in his absence in order to search for him. They had searched the house, opening chests of drawers and cupboards. As they had been unable to find him, they had issued the summons while at his parents’ house and had left it behind. Confronted with the fact that he had not mentioned the house search of 10 May 2011 during the first hearing, the applicant responded that he had in fact done so, that he had recounted the same facts during the first hearing and that it was not his fault that this fact had not been recorded in the minutes of the first hearing. 13. Furthermore, asked about his hiding place prior to his escape from Iran, the applicant stated during the second interview that he had stayed at his sister’s home the whole time. When confronted with his testimony from the first hearing, the applicant explained that he had been with friends as well and added that these people had been friends from work and not friends he knew from the demonstrations. 14. With regard to the aftermath of the last demonstration he had attended in March 2011, the applicant stated during the second hearing that he did not know that the Ettelaad security forces were planning to arrest him. He again alleged that one of the friends arrested during the demonstrations had told the security forces who had participated in these demonstrations. Asked when this friend who had given his name had been arrested, the applicant responded that he did not know and that it had not necessarily been this arrested friend directly who had given his name to the security forces. Arrests of that kind usually started a whole chain reaction: the arrested person would give some names, then these people would be arrested and questioned and give further names, and so on. 15. Questioned further during the second hearing about any special occurrences with regard to his last demonstration in March 2011, the applicant stated that the demonstrations had all been rather similar. People had been arrested and agents of the government had beaten up people during the last demonstration just as during any other demonstration. Asked whether he knew the people who had been arrested, the applicant responded that he just knew these people from the street. They had not been people from his region. Teheran was a big city and people had come from everywhere. Confronted with his testimony from the first interview, in which he had claimed that friends of his had been arrested, the applicant stated that the people demonstrating together were all friends in a way and that he had used the term “friends” in that sense when giving his account of the events during the demonstrations. 16. On 10 April 2013 the Migration Board dismissed the applicant’s request for asylum and ordered him to leave Switzerland by 7 June 2013. The Migration Board reasoned that the applicant’s statement of facts was not credible as his descriptions of the events in Iran had not been consistent during the two hearings. The descriptions diverged considerably from each other with regard to decisive points of the applicant’s story. During the first hearing, the applicant had neither mentioned the appearance of the Ettelaad security forces at his parents’ house, nor had he mentioned the house search, nor the fact that it had been the Ettelaad who had issued a summons directly at his parents’ house on 10 May 2011, but had simply stated that a courier of the court had brought the summons. Furthermore, the accounts of the applicant’s hiding prior to his escape from Iran diverged from each other, as the applicant had first stated that he had hidden at his sister’s home and at friends’ homes, whereas he had claimed to have stayed exclusively at his sister’s home during the second hearing. Finally, the applicant had only mentioned the arrest of his friends during his last demonstration only in the account he had given during the first hearing and not during the second interview. The Migration Board took into consideration that the applicant had submitted some documentary material including the alleged summons of 10 May 2011, but was of the view that these documents could not dispel the doubts about the applicant’s account. The documentary material gave only a general account of the demonstrations, but not specifically anything about the applicant’s alleged participation, and a summons alone could not prove any public persecution. 17. On 15 May 2013 the applicant, now represented by counsel, appealed against the decision of the Migration Board to the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht). He asked the Federal Administrative Court to quash the decision of the Migration Board, to grant him asylum, to find that the execution of the expulsion order would be an improper and unreasonable measure, and to grant him legal aid. 18. In his appeal the applicant claimed that upon the advice of his counsel he had phoned his family in Iran and had asked whether any further summons had been received. On that occasion he had learnt that he had again been summoned to appear before the Revolutionary Court of Teheran on 5 February 2013. He had also learnt that the Revolutionary Court had convicted him in absentia on 7 May 2013 because he had participated in demonstrations against the Iranian regime and had criticised the regime in slogans. The court had sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment and 70 lashes. The applicant claimed to be in possession only of copies of the summons of 5 February 2013 and the judgment of 7 May 2013 because his family suspected state surveillance and feared that the mail would be checked if they tried to send him the originals by post. The applicant submitted the copies of the alleged new summons and of the alleged judgment to the Federal Administrative Court. In his appeal, he also asked the Federal Administrative Court and the Migration Board whether the authenticity of the two documents could be assessed by the Swiss Embassy in Teheran if the originals were handed in or shown there. 19. In his appeal the applicant also argued that the deviations between his two statements of the facts could be explained by the different nature of the two hearings. The first hearing had been only a summary hearing and the applicant had been asked not to go into detail. It was therefore understandable that he had not described the house search of 10 May 2011 until the second hearing. With regard to his hiding prior to his departure from Iran, his two reports were correct and consistent. He had stayed at his sister’s home but he had also met friends from work and spent time with them. With regard to the events during the last demonstration, he had in essence stated the same facts during the two hearings, namely that he and his friends had documented the demonstration and had handed out leaflets, that many participants, including his friends, had been arrested, and that he believed that one of the arrested persons had passed on his name to the Iranian authorities. The applicant further argued that when assessing his two statements, it had to be taken into consideration that almost two years had elapsed between the two hearings and that no one was able to describe events in exactly the same way after such a long time. Finally, the applicant claimed that the second hearing had not been fair, as the interviewer had constantly interrupted him and treated him as if he were lying. 20. On 22 May 2013 the Federal Administrative Court delivered an interim decision in which it declined the applicant’s request for legal aid, reasoning that his application lacked any prospects of success. In its preliminary assessment of the case, the Federal Administrative Court found that the applicant had not convincingly shown that he was persecuted by the Iranian State. His statements of the facts as given during the two hearings by the Migration Board diverged from each other with regard to essential points and his story was therefore not credible. The summons of 5 February 2013 and the judgment of 7 May 2013 had no probative value as the applicant had submitted only copies of these documents. 21. On 2 July 2013 the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal as manifestly ill-founded. In accordance with section 111 and section 111a of the Swiss Asylum Act of 26 June 1998 (hereafter “the Asylum Act”, see paragraphs 30ss. below), the case was decided by a single judge and the judgment contained only a summary reasoning. An oral hearing was not provided for in the rules of procedure. In accordance with section 111a of the Asylum Act, the Federal Administrative Court also abstained from the possibility of exchanging observations between the parties. The Migration Board was hence not given an opportunity to comment on the submission of the copies of the alleged summons of 5 February 2013 and the judgment of 7 May 2013 or on the possibility of having the alleged original documents – which were allegedly in the possession of the applicant’s family – checked by the Swiss embassy in Teheran. 22. The Federal Administrative Court decided that the applicant had no right to asylum. It further stated that there was no reason not to execute the expulsion order as the applicant had not been able to prove that he had been subject to state persecution in Iran. His accounts of the events during the two hearings diverged with regard to essential details and the applicant had not managed to explain these discrepancies to the Federal Administrative Court’s satisfaction. The time that had passed between the two hearings could not explain the contradictions, since the applicant had not been expected to describe the events in Iran in exactly the same way but rather in a consistent manner. Furthermore, contrary to the applicant’s allegation, there was no indication that the second hearing had been unfair. The hearing had been attended by a member of the Aid Organisation of the Protestant Church of Switzerland as a neutral witness. This person had not made any remarks about irregularities witnessed during the hearing, although he could have done so. The minutes had been translated for the applicant and signed by him. He had therefore had the opportunity to correct any statement had he found that it had not been noted down correctly. 23. The court further found that it could not draw any conclusions from the submitted copy of the summons of 5 February 2013 or the copy of the judgment of 7 May 2013 in the applicant’s favour, as copies had no probative value. The court did not mention the first summons of 10 May 2011, the authenticity of which had not been questioned in the decision of the Migration Board. 24. On 22 July 2013 the Migration Board issued a new expulsion order requiring the applicant to leave Switzerland before 19 August 2013. 25. On 15 August 2013 the applicant lodged his application with the Court and asked for Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to be applied in order to stay the enforcement of his expulsion. He stated that he had participated in demonstrations against the Iranian regime following the presidential elections of 2009 up until March 2011 and that he had handed out leaflets on these occasions. He further alleged that the Ettelaad security forces had searched his parents’ house with the purpose of arresting him. Moreover, he claimed that he had been summoned twice to appear before the Revolutionary Court of Teheran and that the same court had sentenced him in absentia on 7 May 2013 to seven years’ imprisonment, the payment of a fine, and 70 lashes of the whip because of his participation in the demonstrations. 26. In support of his claims the applicant attached to his application of 15 August 2013 documentary material on the demonstrations in Iran, written in Persian, copies of the alleged summonses of 10 May 2011 and 5 February 2013 and a copy of the alleged judgment of 7 May 2013. 27. On 10 October 2013 the applicant informed the Court that he was now in possession of the original summons of 5 February 2013 and of the judgment of 7 May 2013, as his sister’s husband had finally dared to send the documents by special delivery in August 2013. He also provided the Court with English translations of the summons of 5 February 2013 and the judgment of 7 May 2013. A translation of the summons of 10 May 2011 was not submitted. A translation was included in the minutes of the applicant’s second hearing, however, and this had been submitted to the Court. 28. According to the translation of the summons of 5 February 2013, the applicant was summoned to appear before the 10th division of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Teheran on 5 February 2013 at 9 a.m., because of “participation in demonstrations against the public safety and the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. The summons was signed by an “investigating authority” on 3 February 2013. 29. The translation of the judgment of 7 May 2013 of the Revolutionary Court of Teheran reads in its material part: “Charge: Undertakings and activities against the sacred order of the Islamic Republic of Iran Judgement In the case of the accused Mr. M.A., the court – due to the charge sheet of the 10th division of the public prosecutor’s office for the General and the Revolutionary Court of Teheran, due to the existing exhibits and his file, due to the credible report of the intelligence service and the clarification as well as the investigations of public prosecutor’s office mentioned above, due to the testimonies of the persons under arrest as well as due to the especially useful information on file, moreover because of the punishable participation in illegal gatherings, because of the disturbance of the peace and the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, because of being a troublemaker and the writing of slogans, calling for resistance against the polity by distributing flyers and non-appearance before court despite being summoned, as well as due to the waiver of defence in court – comes to the conclusion that his guilt has been established. For these reasons, in application of Art. 502 of the Islamic law, he is sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment, 70 strokes of the whip and to a fine of 15 Million Rial which is to be paid to the treasury. An appeal against this judgment delivered in absentia is possible within ten days after disclosure. After this period of time, a request for reconsideration can be submitted to the competent courts of the province of Teheran.” The translation also states that the judgment had been “disclosed on 15 May 2013”.