Published on 14 April 2025
 
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 6559/25
M.A.
against Sweden
lodged on 26 February 2025
communicated on 29 March 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applicant, an Afghan national, requested asylum in Sweden. In several sets of proceedings, during the years from 2015 to 2024, the Swedish authorities refused his requests and ordered his deportation.
The applicant complains that, if he were to be deported, he would face a risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention mainly owing to his Hazara ethnicity, his political and religious beliefs, and his so-called “westernisation”.
The applicant’s request for an interim measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court was granted by the Court on 6 March 2025.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
In the light of the applicant’s claims, the documents which have been submitted and relevant country information, would he face a risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention if he were deported to Afghanistan?
 
In particular, would he face such a risk on account of his Hazara origin, his political and religious beliefs and his so-called “westernisation”, alone or in combination with any further circumstances, taking into consideration, inter alia, country information regarding the situation in Afghanistan for individuals of Hazara ethnicity, individuals perceived as critical of the Taliban and individuals perceived as influenced by foreign values (see, for example, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidance Note on the International Protection Needs of People Fleeing Afghanistan (Update I), February 2023, § 16 (iv), and European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), Country Guidance: Afghanistan 2024, May 2024, Common analysis, sections 3.7, 3.13 and 3.14.2)?