Communicated on 11 September 2015
FIFTH SECTION
Application no 36802/15
W.K. and M.F.
against Sweden
lodged on 24 July 2015
STATEMENT OF FACTS
THE FACTS[A1]
The applicants are an Iraqi married couple who applied for asylum and residence permits in Sweden. Before the migration authorities, they claimed that they were Christians and thus would risk persecution on religious grounds upon return to their home country due to the poor security situation there. In their view, they had no viable internal relocation option and they added that account should be taken of their old age and their health problems for which they required regular medical care and medication. Moreover, they stressed that they lacked a social network in Iraq but had close relatives in Sweden who could offer them support. Their application was finally rejected by the Migration Court of Appeal on 27 April 2015. The expulsion order thereby became enforceable.
On 24 July 2015 the applicants lodged their application with the Court and requested it to apply Rule 39 of the Rules of Court. On 3 August 2015, the acting President of the Section to which the case had been allocated acceded to the applicants’ request and indicated to the Swedish Government that the applicants should not be expelled to Iraq for the duration of the proceedings before the Court.
The applicants are represented before the Court by Mr B. Johansson, a lawyer practising in Stockholm.
COMPLAINT
The applicants complain under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention that, if they were expelled to Iraq, they would face a real risk of being persecuted and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment because they are Christians and thus belong to an exposed religious minority in Iraq. They further claim that there are no internal relocation options open to them due to the very volatile situation in all of Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
QUESTION
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 Articles 2 and/or 3 of the Convention if the expulsion order to Iraq, either to Baghdad or elsewhere, were enforced?
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