HCAL552/2023

[2024] HKCFI 2517

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 552 of 2023

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Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review

NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord. 53 r. 3)

Following:

	consideration of documents only; or
	consideration of documents and the Applicant being absent in open court;

Leave to apply for Judicial Review be refused.

Observations for the Applicant:

Introduction

1. This is the Applicant’s application by Form 86 filed on 6 April 2023 for leave to apply for judicial review (the “leave application”) of the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-Refoulement Claims Petition Office (the “Board”) dated 28 March 2023 (the “Decision”) dismissing his appeal against the decision of the Director of Immigration (the “Director”) in his Notice of Decision dated 7 September 2021 (the “Notice”).

Background

2. The Applicant is a Bangladeshi national, now aged 38. He is married. He entered Hong Kong illegally on 5 March 2020. He was arrested by the police and referred to the Immigration Department. On 28 November 2020, he made a non-refoulement claim. In due course, his non-refoulement claim was assessed on four applicable grounds under the Unified Screening Mechanism (“USM”), namely: Torture Risk [1] ; BOR 2 Risk [2] ; BOR 3 Risk [3] ; and Persecution Risk [4] . His claim was rejected by the Director’s decision in the Notice. His appeal against the Director’s decision in the Notice was dismissed by the Board’s Decision. He now applies for leave to apply for judicial review of that Decision.

The Applicant’s case

3. The following account of the Applicant’s case is mainly based on the non-refoulement claim form (“NCF”) prepared by the Applicant with legal assistance and the record of his screening interview in the presence of his lawyer. In gist, he claimed that if he was returned to Bangladesh, he would be harmed or killed by four members (“his enemies”) of the rival political party, Awami League (“AL”).

4. The Applicant was born in Dhokla, Kushtia, Bangladesh. His wife, two children, parents, and two siblings are living in Bangladesh. He had seven years’ formal education and 19 years’ experience as a salesperson.

5. The Applicant had been a supporter of a political party, namely Bangladesh Nationalist Party (“BNP”). In 2014, he was promoted to the post of secretary of the Youth Wing of the BNP. In 2019, he campaigned for a BNP candidate (Md Rashid) in a local election for the position of Upazila Chairman in which one of the contestant was Advocate Md Rashid from the AL. On one occasion, his enemies together with 20 to 25 men equipped with pistols and big knives threatened him