Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area Germany would be in contravention of the norm of non-refoulement and Greece’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law, including the Refugee Convention. Further, the authorities’ decision to take H.B. to the Turkish Embassy in Athens and allegedly divulge details of his asylum application in Greece has seriously compromised the applicant’s safety and has increased his risk of being tortured and imprisoned if returned to Turkey. 21 risk of serious human rights violations. 37 Following Amnesty International’s intervention in August 2004, M.M.’s deportation was postponed. However, he was arrested in March 2005 and detained for a further three months. His appeal against the deportation order opened in June 2005 by the Council of State and his application is to be examined by the Ministry of Public Order ab initio. 1.5.3 Former hunger strikers 1.5.2 M.M., Sudanese national In August 2004 Amnesty International expressed concern that M.M., a Sudanese national in his early 40s, was at risk of forcible return from Greece to Sudan where his rights would be at serious risk of being violated. Amnesty International considered his forcible return to Sudan would be a violation of Greece’s international obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement under international refugee and human rights law. M. M. fled Darfur in 2003 because his village had been destroyed. He is married and has two daughters but has lost contact with his family. He arrived in Greece in June 2003, was detained on arrival and was released after three months. Living without social support, he decided to travel to the UK, where he claimed asylum in October 2003. In the UK, the Home Office determined that on the basis of the Dublin II Regulation Greece would be the country responsible for deciding on his asylum claim and he was returned to Greece in June 2004. He submitted a new asylum application which was rejected on the grounds that he had left Greece. A decision of administrative deportation was issued. A new application based on fresh information about the situation in Darfur was declared inadmissible. Amnesty International believes that asylum-seekers from Darfur would, if returned to Sudan, be at Amnesty International 5 October 2005 Amnesty International has also been informed of five cases of Turkish nationals who have applied for asylum in Greece in the period 2002-2005. These individuals arrived in Greece at different stages and were arrested upon entry by border patrols and at the police stations where they lodged their asylum claims. All of the individuals concerned claimed membership of organizations which are banned in Turkey, 38 and imprisonment in “F-type” prisons around the country. Four of them provided documents issued by the prison authorities, confirming their imprisonment. The individuals also claimed to have been tortured in these prisons by methods including electroshock to private parts, mock executions, beating on the soles of the feet, and cold 37 In a letter addressed to the authorities in August 2004, Amnesty International had stated: “More than one million people have fled rural areas and taken refuge in settlements around towns in Darfur in 2003 and 2004. More than 30,000 people have been killed, thousands of women have been raped, and at least 170,000 people are now living as refugees on the Chad border or inside Chad. The people in the camps in Darfur are among the most vulnerable: they receive less assistance and protection from the international community than the refugees in Chad. They still face serious human rights violations by government forces and the Janjawid militia, including armed attacks and rape. See Too many people killed for no reason (AI Index: AFR 54/008/2004) and At the mercy of Killers destruction of villages in Darfur (AI Index: AFR 54/072/2004)”. 38 Some of these are armed groups. AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005