FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 20972/11
Daauud Abdule MAHAMUUD
against Denmark
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 16 October 2012 as a Committee composed of:
Elisabeth Steiner, President,
Peer Lorenzen,
Julia Laffranque, judges,
and André Wampach, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 25 March 2011,
Having regard to the interim measure indicated to the respondent Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court and the fact that this interim measure has been complied with,
Having regard to the comments submitted by the Danish Government and the applicant,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
The applicant, Daauud Abdule Mahamuud, is a Somali national who was born in 1973 and lives in Århus. He is represented before the Court by Ms Helle Holm Thomsen, a lawyer practising in Århus. The Danish Government (“the Government”) is represented by their Agent, Mr Thomas Winkler, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
The applicant is from Mogadishu. He entered Denmark on 3 April 1997 and requested asylum, explaining that his brother had been killed in 1995 by a criminal gang. The applicant had married his sister-in-law and taken care of her and the dead brother’s children. In 1996, the applicant and another brother were driving the family bus, when they were attacked by a different criminal gang and the brother was shot.
In March 1998 the applicant was granted de facto asylum status (thus due to general risk factors as opposed to individual risk factors).
The applicant divorced in 1999. He then married a Somali woman in Ethiopia in 2006. They divorced in 2008. The applicant’s parents and some siblings remained in Somalia, and two sisters emigrated to the UK.
By a City Court judgment of 21 May 2007 the applicant was convicted of drug offences and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and expulsion.
The judgment was upheld by the High Court on 18 October 2007.
The applicant failed to request leave to appeal against the judgment to the Supreme Court.
When he had served most of his sentence, the Immigration Service (Udlændingeservice) reviewed the situation in Somalia and decided on 5 January 2011 that there were no impediments to the implementation of the expulsion order. They noted that the applicant had submitted divergent explanations and motives for asylum in 1997, 2007 and 2010 and found that he lacked credibility. The decision was upheld on appeal on 2 March 2011 by the Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet). Both instances found that the general situation in Somalia, including Mogadishu, could not in itself justify the granting of asylum, and that the applicant had failed to substantiate being at real and personal risk upon return.
On 11 May 2012, following the communication of the present application, the Immigration Service decided that the applicant was covered by section 7, subsection 2 of the Aliens Act (Udlændingeloven) so that he could not be returned to Somalia.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complained that an implementation of the deportation order to return him to Somalia would be in violation of Article 3 of the Convention.
THE LAW
On 6 June 2012, referring to the Immigration Service’s decision of 11 May 2012, the applicant’s representative withdrew the case.
The Court notes that the applicant no longer faces a deportation to Somalia and that he has withdrawn his case before the Court. In these circumstances, and having regard to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, the Court is of the opinion that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.
Under these circumstances, the interim measure applied under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court also comes to an end.
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
André WampachElisabeth Steiner
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy