Information Note on the Court’s case-law 189

October 2015

J.K. and Others v. Sweden (referral) - 59166/12

Judgment 4.6.2015 [Section V]

Article 3

Expulsion

Proposed deportation to Iraq of family threatened by al-Qaeda: case referred to the Grand Chamber

The applicants, a married couple and their son, are Iraqi nationals. They applied for asylum in Sweden on the grounds that they risked persecution in Iraq by al-Qaeda as the husband had worked for American clients for many years. Attempts had been made on their lives, the husband had twice been wounded and one of his daughters was shot and killed in October 2008. The Swedish Migration Board rejected the applica tion. Its decision was upheld by the Migration Court in 2012 on the grounds that the criminal acts of al-Qaeda had been committed several years before and the husband no longer had any business with the Americans. In the event that a threat still remained, it was probable that the Iraqi authorities had the will and capacity to protect the family. The applicants’ health was not so poor as to amount to exceptionally distressing circumstances.

In a judgment of 4 June 2015 a Chamber of the European Court held, by five votes to two, that the implementation of the deportation order against the applicants would not give rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention. In reaching that conclusion, it noted that the husband had ceased his business with the America ns in 2008, that the most recent substantiated violent attack by al-Qaeda against the applicants had taken place in October 2008 and that the applicant family had stayed in Baghdad until December 2010 and September 2011, respectively, without having substa ntiated that they were subjected to further direct threats. The Chamber therefore endorsed the Swedish authorities’ assessment that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the applicants would face a real risk of being subjected to treatment contr ary to Article 3 upon a return to Iraq.

On 19 October 2015 the case was referred to the Grand Chamber at the applicants’ request.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.

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