A/HRC/36/31
due process guarantees due to a number of irregularities, the activists were sentenced in
August 2016 to imprisonment, ranging from three to fifteen years. The communication sent
to the Government expressed concern that the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and
human rights indicated that the authorities had possibly targeted IRA activists as reprisal for
their cooperation with the visit of the Special Rapporteur. Another communication sent by
mandate holders on 19 October 2016 further addressed the situation of IRA members,
recalling that the Special Rapporteur had met IRA members during his visit. In a letter dated
19 October 2016, the Government responded by denying allegations of torture, and stating
that the judicial process scrupulously respected international human rights standards. The
Government’s reply did not address the allegations of reprisals.
13.
Mexico
49.
On 4 August 2015, the Committee against Torture, in Ramirez et al. v. Mexico, found
a violation of articles 1, 2 (1), 12-15 and 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other
Cruel or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (see CAT/C/55/D/500/2012 and
communication No. 500/2012). On 19 May and 19 September 2016, the complainants
submitted that they had suffered acts of intimidation and harassment by the authorities as a
result of the Committee’s decision.
50.
The complainants noted that the State party had undertaken a campaign aimed at
stigmatizing them as criminals and re-victimising them. According to reports, a few days
after the release of the Committee’s decision, the Delegate of the Attorney General’s Office
for the Baja California province declared before the media that torture allegations were a
“common strategy used by lawyers defending criminals in order to obtain their release or
suspend the proceedings against them”. According to information received, several printed
media published articles referring to the complainants as “kidnappers released by the United
Nations.” Television programs stigmatized the NGO that represented the complainants
before the Committee, stating that the Committee had enabled an organised criminal network
supporting kidnappers.
51.
Despite having been acquitted in the criminal case against them, two of the
complainants were detained again a few hours after having been released based on an alleged
arrest warrant dating from 2009 and without a judicial decision. As at 31 July 2017 they were
being held in the punishment cells of a penitentiary centre together with convicted detainees,
and have been subjected to ill-treatment. Following the release of the other two complainants,
the two complainants who remained in detention have been repeatedly harassed by the police,
subjected to random arrests and interrogations and called “kidnappers”. Their family
members have also been harassed by the police. One of the complainants has had his
workplace searched on several occasions and without a warrant.
52.
In September 2016, the complainants’ submission was transmitted to the State party
for observations. The rapporteurs on reprisals and on follow-up requested that the State party
adopt all measures necessary to protect the security and integrity of the complainants, their
family members and representatives, and inform the Committee accordingly. No response
was received from the Government, and the Committee sent a reminder at its 59th session
(see CAT/C/59/3).
14.
Morocco
53.
On 3 August 2016, the Committee against Torture, in Abdul Rahman Alhaj Ali v.
Morocco, found a that the extradition of Abdul Rahman Alhaj Ali would constitute a breach
of article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (see CAT C/58/D/682/2015 and communication No. 682/2015). Mr. Abdul
Rahman Alhaj Ali, a Syrian national registered with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees and seeking asylum in Morocco, was detained in October 2014
in Morocco on an extradition request by Saudi Arabia for “breach of trust” based on previous
business relations in Riyadh. The Committee urged the Government to release him or to try
him if charges are brought against him in Morocco, as he had been in extradition detention
24
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