M.S.S. v. BELGIUM AND GREECE JUDGMENT 5 procedure and the reception conditions of asylum-seekers in Greece and recommending the suspension of transfers to Greece (see paragraphs 194-95 below). A copy was sent to the Aliens Office. 17. On 19 May 2009, in application of section 51/5 of the Act of 15 December 1980 on the entry, residence, settlement and expulsion of aliens (“the Aliens Act”), the Aliens Office decided not to allow the applicant to stay and issued an order directing him to leave the country. The reasons given for the order were that, according to the Dublin Regulation, Belgium was not responsible for examining the asylum application; Greece was responsible and there was no reason to suspect that the Greek authorities would fail to honour their obligations in asylum matters under Community law and the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. That being so, the applicant had the guarantee that he would be able, as soon as he arrived in Greece, to submit an application for asylum, which would be examined in conformity with the relevant rules and regulations. The Belgian authorities were under no obligation to apply the derogation clause provided for in Article 3 § 2 of the Dublin Regulation. Lastly, the applicant did not have any health problems that might prevent his transfer and had no relatives in Belgium. 18. On the same day, the applicant was taken into custody with a view to the enforcement of that decision and placed in closed facility 127 bis for illegal aliens, in Steenokkerzeel. 19. On 26 May 2009 the Belgian Committee for Aid to Refugees, the UNHCR’s operational partner in Belgium, was apprised of the contact details of the lawyer assigned to the applicant. 20. On 27 May 2009 the Aliens Office scheduled the applicant’s departure for 29 May 2009. 21. At 10.25 a.m. on the appointed day, in Tongres, the applicant’s initial counsel lodged an appeal by fax with the Aliens Appeals Board to have the order to leave the country set aside, together with a request for a stay of execution under the extremely urgent procedure. The reasons given, based in particular on Article 3 of the Convention, referred to a risk of arbitrary detention in Greece in appalling conditions, including a risk of illtreatment. The applicant also relied on the deficiencies in the asylum procedure in Greece, the lack of effective access to judicial proceedings and his fear of being sent back to Afghanistan without any examination of his reasons for having fled that country. 22. The hearing was scheduled for the same day, at 11.30 a.m., at the seat of the Aliens Appeals Board in Brussels. The applicant’s counsel did not attend the hearing and the application for a stay of execution was rejected on the same day, for failure to attend. 23. The applicant refused to board the aircraft on 29 May 2009 and his renewed detention was ordered under section 27(1) of the Aliens Act.