A/HRC/16/53/Add.1 the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.3 W. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1. Communication sent on 20 November 2009 as a follow-up to the Special Rapporteur’s country visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in June 2007 397. In a follow-up letter of 20 November 2009, the Special Rapporteur transmitted a table containing the conclusions and recommendations in the mission report on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (A/HRC/7/10/Add.3) as well as information from relevant United Nations documents, including from the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies. The Special Rapporteur asked the Government to provide updated information on the consideration given to these recommendations, the steps taken to implement them, and any constraints which may prevent their implementation. 398. The Special Rapporteur is grateful that the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland replied by letter of 10 March 2010. The follow-up table, including any information provided by the Government, is available online on the Special Rapporteur’s website (www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/religion/visits.htm). 2. Urgent appeal sent on 19 March 2010 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the ChairRapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (a) Allegations transmitted to the Government 399. The Special Procedures mandate holders brought to the attention of the Government information regarding Mr. A., a national of the Islamic Republic of Iran and since September 2008 resident of Bolton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 400. According to the allegations received, Mr. A. is detained in the immigration removal centre Harmondsworth and due to be forcibly removed from the United Kingdom on flight BA7531/BD931 to Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, on 21 March 2010. Mr. A. used to be a Muslim and learned about Christianity through an underground church in Tehran. He came to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on a student visa in 2007 and applied for asylum in August 2008, before expiry of his visa, as he had converted to Christianity. His asylum application has been refused, reportedly on the grounds that his Christian faith was not genuine but a contrivance in order to gain asylum in the United Kingdom. However, Mr. A. is reported to be a young man with a deep and genuine Christian faith and he has been a covenant member of the Jesus Fellowship Church since August 2009. 401. Concerns have been voiced that converts from Shia Islam to Christianity face great risk of ill-treatment in the Islamic Republic of Iran and are not free to practise their faith openly without fear of persecution and even threat of death as an apostate. The Special Rapporteurs also recalled the obligation of non-refoulement in article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: “No Contracting State shall expel or return (‘refouler’) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life 3 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10522&LangID=E. 75