RE AHMED ZAKAR

CAMP 17/2019

[2019] HKCA 902

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO 17OF 2019

(ON AN INTENDED APPEAL FROM HCAL 708/2017)

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JUDGMENT

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Hon Lam VP (giving the Judgment of the Court):

1.  On 27 May 2019, the Court (Lam VP and Poon JA) handed down a judgment ([2019] HKCA 566) refusing the applicant’s renewed application for an extension of time for appealing against the decision of Campbell-Moffat J given on 6 July 2018 ([2018] HKCFI 1175).

2.  In his notice of motion dated 5 June 2019 seeking leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal, the applicant advanced the following grounds of appeal:

“ I am not satisfied with the decision given by the appeal board because it’s not fa[ir]. I have problem in my own country. Appeal board failed and ignored the actual fact about my case.” (sic)

3.  The applicant lodged written submissions in support of his notice of motion on 18 June 2019.  In it, the applicant referred to the background of his case and reiterated that he would not be safe if returned. 

4.  At [20] – [22] of the judgment, the Court explained that there was no prospect of success in the intended appeal.  The applicant failed to engage with the Court’s reasons.  We cannot see any reasonable arguable basis that the Court was wrong in this respect.

5.  The grounds advanced by the applicant do not constitute valid grounds of appeal to the Court of Final Appeal. 

6.  Having reviewed the materials before us, we cannot discern any question of great general or public importance, as required under section 22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap 484).  Nor can we see any basis to grant leave on the “otherwise” limb. Accordingly, the statutory thresholds for granting leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal are not met.

7.  For these reasons, we refuse to grant leave to the applicant to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.  We dismiss the notice of motion accordingly.