Conversion case

Concerning Ka.H. vs. Denmark for violation of article 2, 6 and/or 7, 13, 14 and 26 of CCPR.

The author fears persecution because he was an active member of the Basij, between 2004-2007. He worked as a guard and collected information on people who crossed the specific control areas. He was also ordered to collect information, about individuals and fabricate false information. But after events in 2009, he tried to scale down his work for Basij, and tried to avoid his superiors. However, in July 2012, when the author was at work, his home was visited by a Basij member who told the author’s wife that the author must meet him at the base. The author then fled to Denmark. During his stay in Denmark as an asylum seeker, he furthermore converted from being a Muslim to being a Christian in 2013, but his interest for Christianity started before that.

At the Board hearing in March 2014 the author’s original asylum motive was rejected, and a majority of the five Board members did not find his Conversion to be “real”. However the author explained that he talked to a woman, Z, in December 2012 when he was in a great crisis. At the same Board meeting “Z” was allowed as a witness and she stated under oath that their first conversation about Christianity took place in December 2012. Nevertheless, the Board rejected her statement as well as the author’s, and concluded that his Baptism in April 2013 was more likely a matter of getting asylum rather than having found a new faith.

It was found by the Committee that article 6 and 7 would be violated in case of deportation.

22. July 2021

CCPR 2423/2014
  • Decision: 16. July 2018
  • Comm: Human Rights