Deportation to Iran not found to violate prohibition on refoulement for failure to establish a real and personal risk of harm

Facts

The author, a national of Iran, claims that his removal from Denmark to Iran would violate his rights under articles 7, 18, and 19 of the ICCPR, as he feared conflict with the Basij militia following their discovery of his produciton and selling of alcohol.

Admissibility

The Committee found the communication admissible on the following grounds: (i) the Committee was not precluded under article 5 (2) (b) of the Optional Protocol from being seized of the complaint, and (ii) the author had sufficiently substantiated his claim under article 7 of the Covenant. As for the claims under articles 18 and 19 of the Covenant, the Committee considered that the author had insufficiently substantiated them for the purpose of admissibility. 

Merits

The Committee found that the author’s expulsion to Iran would not constitute a violation of his rights under article 7 of the Covenant, because the author failed to show that the Danish Immigration Service and Refugee Appeals Board’s decisions were arbitrary or manifestly erroneous, or that they ammounted to a denial of justice. Further, the Committee found that the author had failed to sufficiently evidence a real and personal risk of being subjected to treatment contrary to article 7 of the Covenant if deported.

Implementation

19 April 2022