CCPR/C/123/D/2328/2014 5.3 Counsel further notes that the Board has had to reopen the cases of several asylum seekers whose asylum requests had previously been rejected as a result of proceedings before the Committee. He claims that this demonstrates that the Board often makes mistakes. He provides a list of 11 cases registered by the Committee and reopened by the Board in which, after a review of the case, refugee status has been granted. In particular, he refers to the communications submitted on behalf of Afghan nationals that were discontinued by the Committee because the authors were granted refugee status following the Board’s review of their cases. 12 5.4 With regard to the State party’s observations on the admissibility of the communication, in particular regarding the violation of the author’s rights under articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant, counsel submits that such allegations are, in fact, duly substantiated, as the current situation in Afghanistan is extremely dangerous. He recalls in this regard the author’s references to the Eligibility Guidelines. 5.5 As regards the State party’s observations on the merits, counsel submits that, due to the author’s disappearance, it was not possible to discuss the State party’s arguments with him in preparation of the present comments. Counsel reiterates, therefore, the author’s initial arguments (summarized in paras. 3.1–3.3 above). He concludes that the author’s deportation to Afghanistan would constitute a violation by the State party of articles 6 and 7 of the Covenant and that article 13 and/or article 14 of the Covenant have/has been violated, since the decision made by the Board on 23 January 2012 could not be appealed to a judicial body. 5.6 On 13 October 2015, counsel informed the Committee that the author was apparently so afraid of being deported from Denmark to Afghanistan, despite the fact that the Committee had granted his request for interim measures, that he had fled to Sweden and had applied for asylum there. He adds that the author seems to be suffering from some mental health issues that affect his cognitive capacity. For example, the author had great difficulties in explaining to counsel why he was afraid of staying in Denmark and what motivated him to flee to Sweden. Counsel further submits that the author was deported back to Denmark when the Swedish asylum authorities learned that he already had a case pending in Denmark. The author subsequently expressed his wish to proceed with the consideration of the present communication by the Committee. 5.7 In addition to the comments made by counsel on 24 September 2014, the author referred to the speech made by the President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, on 20 June 2015 on the occasion of the World Refugee Day. 13 In that speech, the President appealed to countries in Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States of America, as well as other countries hosting refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan, to “take into account our problems this year” and to “stop expelling Afghan asylum seekers” for lack of documentation. He referred to “the story of our refugees” as “a sad part of our modern history”. 5.8 The author further submits that, at the beginning of March 2015, the Afghan authorities officially communicated to the Danish authorities their request to renegotiate the tripartite memorandum of understanding between the Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan, the Government of Denmark and UNHCR of 18 October 2004. 14 He adds that when the Minister of Justice of Denmark was subsequently asked by a member of parliament about the forced deportations to Afghanistan in the light of the request made by the Afghan authorities, he reportedly replied that the Danish authorities expected the Afghan authorities to comply with the return policy agreed in the framework of the memorandum of understanding.15 Consequently, the Danish police were not instructed to temporarily stop forced deportations to Afghanistan. The author adds that Norway, Sweden 12 13 14 15 6 The author refers, inter alia, to A.E. v. Denmark (CCPR/C/115/D/2320/2013). Available at https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/president-mohammad-ashraf-ghani-s-speechworld-refugee-day. Available at www.unhcr.org/subsites/afghancrisis/430d7bec2/tripartite-memorandum-understandingmou-islamic-transitional-state-afghanistan.html. No further details provided by the author.