The author, Mr. J, a crew member of a vessel of Iranian Shipping line, was convicted to five years and six months for selling of cannabis in Australia. After unsuccessful try to obtain refugee status in Australia and facing deportation to Iran, Mr. J. applied to the Committee claiming that Australia would violate Articles 6, 7 and 14 of the Covenant stating that he might be sentenced to death penalty after trials lacking the standards of fair trial and might be subject to torture or to other form of ill-treatment.
The Committee did not reveal violation of any provision of the Covenant based on the evidence that the offence for which the Author was convicted in Australia did not carry death penalty under the Iranian law. Furthermore, Iran manifested no intension to arrest or to prosecute the Author in capital charges, and no arrest warrant against him was issued in Iran. And finally, there was no precedent that an individual in a situation similar to the Author’s has faced capital charges and been sentenced to death.
Citation: A.R.J. v Australia (UN Human Rights Committee, 28 July 1997) UN Doc CCPR/C/60/D/692/1996