Communicated on 4 March 2020
Published on 5 May 2020
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 62756/19
M.A. and S.A.
against Finland
lodged on 27 November 2019
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the removal of the applicants, a married couple, to Iraq. Their adult son’s asylum application has been decided by a separate set of proceedings (see A.A. v. Finland, no. 62733/19). On 28 March 2017 the Finnish Immigration Service rejected the applicants’ asylum application and ordered their removal back to Iraq. On 4 July 2018 the Administrative Court rejected the applicants’ appeal and on 12 October 2018 the Supreme Administrative Court refused them leave to appeal. The applicants sought again international protection in Finland on 12 November 2018. On 13 May 2019 the Finnish Immigration Service dismissed their new application without examining the merits and ordered their removal back to Iraq. This decision was upheld by the Administrative Court on 20 June 2019. On 25 September 2019 the Supreme Administrative Court refused the applicants leave to appeal.
On 7 February 2020 the Court granted Rule 39 in the applicants’ case. The applicants complain under Articles 2, 3 and 5 of the Convention that they would be in a real risk of death or ill-treatment upon return to Iraq, inter alia, on the following grounds. The first applicant was a high-ranking officer in the Iraqi army and former member of the Baath Party. When he refused to join the Badr militia, the latter started to persecute him and his family. He was a target of a failed murder attempt in which he was wounded in the leg. His wife, the second applicant, was kidnapped. After having fled from Iraq, the first applicant and his sons were arbitrarily convicted to a life sentence in Iraq as they were considered as traitors. When one of the sons tried to return to Iraq in 2017 before the conviction, there was a murder attempt against him by the Badr Organisation. In June 2019 the first applicant’s brother was shot dead. In addition, the applicants are Sunni Muslims who have been persecuted both by the Badr Organisation and the Iraqi authorities. The first applicant also suffers from cancer and has suicidal tendencies.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Would the applicants’ right to life, ensured by Article 2 of the Convention, be violated if they were removed to Iraq?
2. In the light of the applicants’ claims and the documents which have been submitted, would they face a risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of Article 3 of the Convention if the expulsion order were enforced?
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