CEDH · CASELAW;DECISIONS;DECCOMMISSION;ENG — 9 juillet 1998

.sDD6737AE { font-size:11pt } .s211D6B00 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; line-height:normal; widows:0; orphans:0; font-size:8.5pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial }                   Application No. 39499/98                  by Sirus NURKHALAJ and Mujdeh HASSANPOUR                  against Turkey          The European Commission of Human Rights sitting in private on 9 July 1998, the following members being present:                MM     S. TRECHSEL, President                  J.-C. GEUS                  M.P. PELLONPÄÄ                  E. BUSUTTIL                  G. JÖRUNDSSON                  A.S. GÖZÜBÜYÜK                  A. WEITZEL                  J.-C. SOYER                  H. DANELIUS            Mrs    G.H. THUNE            MM     F. MARTINEZ                  C.L. ROZAKIS            Mrs    J. LIDDY            MM     L. LOUCAIDES                  B. MARXER                  M.A. NOWICKI                  I. CABRAL BARRETO                  B. CONFORTI                  N. BRATZA                  I. BÉKÉS                  D. SVÁBY                  G. RESS                  A. PERENIC                  C. BÎRSAN                  P. LORENZEN                  K. HERNDL                  E. BIELIUNAS                  E.A. ALKEMA                  M. VILA AMIGÓ            Mrs    M. HION            MM     R. NICOLINI                  A. ARABADJIEV              Mr     M. de SALVIA, Secretary to the Commission        Having regard to Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;        Having regard to the application introduced on 7 January 1998 by Sirus NURKHALAJ and Mujdeh HASSANPOUR against Turkey and registered on 23 January 1998 under file No. 39499/98;        Having regard to :   -     the reports provided for in Rule 47 of the Rules of Procedure of      the Commission;   -     the observations submitted by the respondent Government on      2 March 1998 and the correspondence between the Secretariat and      the applicants and their representative since March 1998 ;        Having deliberated;        Decides as follows:   THE FACTS        The first applicant, a medical attendant of Iranian nationality, was born in 1959 in Teheran. He was represented before the Commission by the Iranian Refugees' Alliance. He complains to the Commission on behalf of himself and his wife Mujdeh Hassanpour (second applicant), an Iraqi national of Kurdish origin, born in Sulaymania (Iraq).        The facts as submitted by the parties may be summarised as follows.        The first applicant was an official supporter of the Organisation of Iranian People's Fedaian Guerrillas (OIPFG) since 1978.        In 1981, he was arrested by the Iranian security forces on the grounds of his anti-government political activities within the OIPFG. He spent three months in prison and escaped while being transferred from Evin prison (Teheran) to Gohardast prison (Karaj). While in detention, prison autorities brutally tortured him to obtain a confession about other members of the organisation. His fiancée, who was also arrested, was executed.        After his excape from prison, the first applicant continued his activities in Northern Iraq with the Kurdistan branch of the OIPFG. He put his medical experience at the service of Iraqi Kurdish organisations, mainly the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), accompanying critically ill PUK militants to government hospitals, passing them off as OIPFG members.        After the Gulf war, non-Kurdish Iranian opposition members were looked upon with suspicion and resentment. In May 1991, the Kurdish members of the OIPFG separated to form a nationalist Kurdish group. The remaining members of the OIPFG went to Kirkuk, a town under Baghdad Government control. They were transferred by the Mukhabarat (the   Iraqi foreign intelligence agency) to the Al-tash refugee camp and, by 1993, they all fled to Turkey.        The first applicant served the Iraqi Kurdish Front (IKF - coalition of PUK and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in Sulaymania and Penjmin as medical assistant and trainer.        In December 1991 he married Mujdeh Hassanpour, the second applicant, who had been an active supporter of Rewft Communists during 1988-1989.        In 1989, the second applicant decided to leave the organisation in order to attend university. In May 1992 she resumed her political activities with the local People's Council, led by left-wing and communist groups, for which she was constantly threatened.        In August   1992, there was an unsuccessful assassination attempt against the first applicant by a man who was allegedly an Iranian agent. Three months later he was shot at in front of his residence in the centre of Sulaymania. After this incident, the head of Sulaymania's security forces advised him to leave Iraqi Kurdistan, informing him that the police were unable to protect him against Iran's agents and that they might have to hand him over to the Iranian government.        In December 1992, the applicants entered Turkey illegally. They were apprehended inside Turkey and deported back to Iraq, where they were detained by the KDP security forces for several days.        In March   1993, they re-entered Turkey and made an application to the UNHCR.        Acting upon the UNHCR's request, the Turkish authorities granted them a provisional residence permit.        In May 1993, the UNHCR refused the applicants' request for refugee status.        In July 1995, the applicants received a deportation order from the Turkish autorities. The first applicant joined a group of 160 Iranians who had staged a sit-in at the offices of the United Socialist Party in Ankara to protest against the UNHCR's rejection of their refugee claims and to seek a reprieve for their deportation orders back to Iraq.        In January 1997, the applicants' case was re-opened by the UNHCR. The first applicant submits that, in November 1997, the UNHCR informed him that he and his wife were granted refugee status within the meaning of the Geneva Convention, thus confirming the risk of persecution the first applicant would run, should he return to Iran. In December 1997 the applicants were told that they should return to Northern Iraq and seek assistance from the UNHCR office there. This decision was communicated to the applicant on 29 December 1997.        The applicants' residence permit expired at the end of December 1997 and has not been renewed.   COMPLAINTS        The first applicant claims that his return to Iraq would have the foreseeable consequence of exposing him to a real risk of expulsion to Iran and would endanger his and his wife's security due to the Kurdish administration's inability to protect them against attacks by Iran's agents.        He adds that he would be subject to discriminatory and inhuman treatment by the Kurdish authorities because of his ethnic identity and political views. He invokes Article 3 of the Convention.   PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION        The application was introduced on 7 January 1998 and registered on 23 January 1998.        On 7 January 1998, the first applicant applied to the Commission requesting the application of Rule 36 of the Commission's Rules of Procedure to prevent his and his wife's deportation to Iraq.        This application was accepted by the Acting President of the Commission on 7 January 1998 who requested the Turkish Government not to deport the applicants to Iraq until the Commission had an opportunity to examine the application.        On 23 January 1998, the Commission decided to communicate the application to the respondent Government.        The Government's written observations were submitted on 2 March 1998.   These observations were sent to the applicants for comments before 6 April 1998.        On 31 March 1998, the applicants' representatives informed the Commission that they could not continue to represent the applicants due to a break-down in communications and asked that the Government's observations be transmitted to the first applicant himself at his latest available address.        The observations were sent to the applicants with a time-limit for replies until 6 May 1998. However, no reply was received by the Commission.        By letter sent to the applicants on 28 May 1998 by registered mail, the applicants were reminded that the time limit for the submission of their replies to the Government's observations had expired. They were further invited to state whether they intended to pursue their application and were warned about the provision of Article 30 para. 1 (a) of the Convention. This letter has not been received by the applicants as they were not at their address any more.     REASONS FOR THE DECISION        The Commission notes that the applicants did not react when invited to submit observations in reply to the Government's observations. The warning letter did not reach them as they had apparently left their last known residence. They have not informed the Commission of any change in their address.        In these circumstances, the Commission concludes pursuant to Article 30 para. 1 (a) of the Convention that the applicants do not intend to pursue their application and that it is, therefore, no longer justified to continue the examination of the petition.   Moreover, there are no reasons of a general character affecting respect for Human Rights as defined in this Convention which require the further examination of the application by virtue of Article 30 para. 1 in fine of the Convention.        For these reasons, the Commission, unanimously,        DECIDES TO STRIKE THE APPLICATION OUT OF ITS LIST OF CASES.           M. de SALVIA                         S. TRECHSEL          Secretary                            President      to the Commission                     of the Commission