HCAL 1737/2019 [2024] HKCFI 1921

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 1737 of 2019

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 Applicant being absent in open court;

Leave to apply for Judicial Review be refu sed.

Observations for the Applicant:

THE APPLICATION

1. The applicant applies for leave to apply for judicial review of the Decision dated 14 June 2019 of the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the Director’s Decision as described below (“the Board’s Decision”).

2. The applicant did ask for a hearing. However, he was absent on 29 May 2024 at the hearing without prior notice to the court. I shall deal with his application on paper.

The applicant

3. The applicant, aged 44, is a national of Bangladesh. He entered Hong Kong illegally from Mainland China on 26 May 2015 and was arrested by the police on 27 May 2015. The applicant made a non-refoulement claim on 30 May 2015. The claim was made on the basis that, if refouled, he would be harmed or even killed by people from Awami League (“AL”) because he was a member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (“BNP”).

4. According to the applicant, he began supporting BNP in 2007. On 1 October 2008, he became a member of the youth front of BNP upon invitation by BNP leaders. On 5 January 2015, around 600-700 BNP members gathered on the streets to block the highway as an attempt to disrupt the AL-led government. Subsequently, around 1000 AL members and police officers arrived at the scene. Many BNP members were attacked and arrested, but the applicant managed to flee the scene unharmed. Since then AL became more hostile towards BNP and its affiliates.

5. One day in early March 2015, when the applicant was shopping for food, he was approached by two AL members, who scolded and asked why he still supported BNP. Thereafter, a few more AL members joined in and together they beat the legs of the applicant with iron rods and wooden sticks. The AL perpetrators left after the passersby intervened, but they threatened to kill the applicant the next time they saw him.

6. The applicant went home after receiving treatment from a doctor. His father then sent him to India on a bus. The applicant returned home a week later after he spent all his money. His father believed that the attack on the applicant was not a random encounter, but a premediated attack by AL. The applicant’s father therefore brought the applicant to Dhaka while making arrangement with an agent to send him out of Bangladesh. Eventually, the applicant left for Mainland China on 22 May 2015, after which he sneaked into Hong Kong on 26 May 2015.