Concerning Mr. M.A.A vs denmark violation of CAT article 3.

The applicant is a somali national, born January 11 1985. He was part of the Baadi-clan, a minority clan in Somalia. A conflict erupted between his and the Hawaadle clan, who are closely related to al-Shabaab, due to some animals being stolen. The applicant was threatened three times by a member of the Hawaadle clan, and after the third threat the member found him and shot him a total of three times. He was ill for a long time after the incident, afterwards which he fled to Denmark, where he arrived in July 2014.

The applicant fears that if he was to return, he would suffer serious ill treatment and be in danger of his life due to the Hawaadle clan, just like he was before fleeing the country. His application for asylum was rejected at the Danish Immigration Service. Danish Refugee Board upheld the decision on the 1st of October 2015 as they believed his explanations were divergent and improbable. For example the fact that he did not respond to the first two threats. Additionally the Board said that a medical examination would not be able to establish whether or not he was illtreated in the way he described.

A complaint was sent to the Committee against Torture on the 15 October 2015. The case was taken under consideration by the Committee on 15 March 2016, however interim measures were not given. The complaint is mainly based on the lack of a medical examination. It seems the underlying assumption by the Refugee Board is that the applicant could have inflicted the damage upon himself in order to get asylum. However, if the medical examination proved that he was shot from a distance, it would show that he would be at a risk if he returned to Somalia.

A new request for interim measures was sent, now that the case has been taken under consideration by the Committee. In earlier similar cases, see CAT no. 464/2011, the applicant was not granted interim measures and the applicant was therefore deported. The Committee later found that Denmark in his case was in violation of CAT article 3, however damage had been done, as the applicant had already been deported. Similar situations should not and must not occur again, as mistakes at the Danish Refugee Board do occur, and the damage can be irreparable. As such, interim measures is hopefully given while the case is under consideration by the Committee.