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issued by the Registrar of the Court ECHR 262 (2016) 19.08.2016 Forthcoming Grand Chamber judgment concerning three Iraqi nationals who had sought asylum in Sweden and whose deportation to Iraq had been ordered The European Court of Human Rights will be delivering in writing a Grand Chamber judgment1 in the case of J.K. and Others v. Sweden (application no. 59166/12) on 23 August 2016 at 11.00 a.m. The case concerned three Iraqi nationals who had sought asylum in Sweden and whose deportation to Iraq had been ordered. Principal facts and complaints The applicants, Mr J.K. and his wife and son, are three Iraqi nationals who were born in 1964, 1965 and 2000 respectively. Since the 1990s Mr J.K. had run his own construction and transport business with exclusively American clients, with its office at a United States military base. In October 2004 Mr J.K. was the target of a murder attempt carried out by al-Qaeda. In 2005 his brother was kidnapped by al-Qaeda members, who threatened to kill him because of Mr J.K.'s collaboration with the Americans. His brother was released in exchange for a sum of money and immediately fled from Iraq. Mr J.K. and his wife and son fled to Jordan and stayed there until December 2006, before returning to Iraq. Their house was the target of an attempted bomb attack, the perpetrator of which was arrested by the American forces and confessed that he had been paid by al-Qaeda to kill Mr J.K. He disclosed the names of 16 people who had been designated to monitor Mr J.K. and his wife and son. The applicants moved to Syria. Al-Qaeda destroyed their home in Iraq and Mr J.K.'s business stocks. In January 2008 Mr J.K. and his wife and son returned to Baghdad. In October 2008 Mr J.K.'s daughter died after shots were fired at their car. Mr J.K.'s business stocks were attacked four or five times by al-Qaeda members. The family remained in Baghdad but changed address several times. On 14 December 2010 Mr J.K. applied for asylum and a residence permit in Sweden. He submitted a further application on 25 August 2011, and his wife and son did likewise on 19 September 2011. On 26 September 2011 the three applicants were given an introductory interview by the Migration Agency, and subsequently the parents were given a further interview lasting almost three and a half hours. They were assisted by State-appointed counsel. On 22 November 2011 the Migration Agency rejected the applicants' asylum application, finding that there were no grounds to grant the family residence permits, and ordered their deportation from Sweden. On 23 April 2012 the Migration Court upheld the Migration Agency's decision. The applicants appealed to the Migration Court of Appeal, which on 9 August 2012 refused them leave to appeal. On 29 August 2012 the applicants applied to the Migration Agency for a review of their case. They maintained that Mr J.K. was under threat from al-Qaeda because of his political activities. In support of their application they submitted video recordings of Mr J.K. being interviewed in English, a demonstration, and a television debate. On 26 September 2012 the Migration Agency refused the applicants' application. They did not appeal against that decision. 1. Grand Chamber judgments are final (Article 44 of the Convention). All final judgments are transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of their execution. Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution. The applicants complained that their deportation to Iraq would entail a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment). Procedure The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 13 September 2012. On 18 September 2012 the President of the Third Section of the Court decided to apply Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, indicating to the Government that the applicants should not be deported to Iraq for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. In a Chamber judgment delivered on 4 June 2015 the Court held, by 5 votes to 2, that the implementation of the deportation order in respect of the applicants would not give rise to a violation of Article 3. On 25 August 2015 the applicants requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 of the Convention (referral to the Grand Chamber). On 19 October 2015 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted that request. A hearing was held in Strasbourg on 24 February 2016. This press release is a document produced by the Registry. It does not bind the Court. Decisions, judgments and further information about the Court can be found on www.echr.coe.int. To receive the Court's press releases, please subscribe here: www.echr.coe.int/RSS/en or follow us on Twitter @ECHRpress. Press contacts [email protected] | tel.: +33 3 90 21 42 08 Denis Lambert (tel: + 33 3 90 21 41 09) Tracey Turner-Tretz (tel: + 33 3 88 41 35 30) Inci Ertekin (tel: + 33 3 90 21 55 30) The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. 2