On August 23, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in J.K. and Others v. Sweden that the return of three Iraqi asylum seekers in Sweden to their home country would violate Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to the press release, J.K had run a business with solely American clients from a U.S. military base in Iraq and had been targeted by al-Qaeda because of his cooperation with Americans. After several attempts to kill him, bomb his house, and destroy his business stock, J.K and his family unsuccessfully applied for asylum in Sweden, claiming to be “under threat from al-Qaeda because of his political activities.” The Court noted that the Swedish courts, as well as other European governments, relied on an assessment of the security situation finding “that the intensity of violence in Baghdad did not give rise to a real risk of individuals being subjected to treatment breaching Article 3.” Therefore, the Court analyzed whether J.K’s family’s “personal circumstances were such that they would face a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 if expelled to Iraq.” It found that J.K. belongs to a particularly targeted group of “persons who had collaborated in different ways with the authorities of the occupying powers in Iraq,” who “continued to be targeted by al-Qaeda and other groups” and highlighted that J.K. and members of his family had already suffered violence at the hands of al-Qaeda. The Court further found that “the Iraqi authorities’ capacity to protect citizens had to be regarded as diminished,” especially with regard to members of a targeted group. Highlighting that “[a]gainst a background of a generally deteriorating security situation, marked by an increase in sectarian violence and attacks and advances by ISIS, large areas of the territory were outside the Iraqi Government’s effective control,” the Court concluded that “the applicants would run a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 if returned to Iraq.”