AQEEL AHMED alias CHOUDHRY AQEEL AHMED v. DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION

HCAL 715/2022

[2022] HKCFI 2926

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 715 of 2022

       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 oral submissions by the Applicant in open court.

1.  Leave to apply for Judicial Review be refused; and

2.  A Restricted Proceedings Order (RPO) be made against the applicant.

Observations for the Applicant:

THE APPLICATION

1.  This is the applicant’s application for leave to apply for judicial review of the Decision of the Director of Immigration dated 16 May 2022 (the “Director’s Decision”) refusing his subsequent claim of HCAL 1077 of 2017 (the “previous claim”) under section 37ZO of the Immigration Ordinance, Cap. 115 (the “Ordinance”).

2.  The Court, upon its own motion, has called upon the applicant to appear before it to show cause why the Court should not make a restricted proceedings order (“RPO”) against him since there is evidence to show that if unrestricted, the applicant may take out further proceedings to assert his non-refoulement claim on the same facts of the case, thereby abusing the legal process.

3.  The applicant appeared before the Court on 29 August 2022.

The procedural history

4.  The applicant is an illegal immigrant from Pakistan. On 26 June 2001, he came to Hong Kong as a visitor. He has applied for asylum to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but his application was rejected. He overstayed and was arrested by police on 28 January 2003. He was repatriated on 14 February 2003.  In August 2007, he entered Hong Kong illegally by boat and was arrested by police. He lodged a torture claim on 30 June 2008. Meanwhile, he was charged with the offence of remaining in Hong Kong without the authority of the Director. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment. On 10 April 2012, he married a Hong Kong resident in Hong Kong. He applied for residence as a dependent of his wife, but his application was rejected.

5.  His torture claim was then considered as a non-refoulement claim under the Unified Screening Mechanism on the grounds of Torture risk under the Ordinance; BOR 3 risk under Article 3 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance and Persecution risk under the Refugee Convention. On 12 June 2015, by Notice of Decision, the Director rejected his claim. His appeal to the Board was dismissed on 8 March 2017. His claim on Right to Life under Article 2 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance (“BOR 2 risk”) was also rejected by the Director by Notice of Further Decision dated 7 April 2017 and his appeal to the Board was dismissed by the Board’s Further Decision on 3 November 2017. The Board’s Decisions are collectively called “the Board’s Decisions”.

6.  His application for leave for judicial review of the Board’s Decisions was dismissed by the Court by its Order dated 12 April 2019 (“the Court’s Order”).

7.  His appeal against the Court’s Order was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 16 April 2020.

8.  His Notice of Motion for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Court of Final Appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 8 April 2021.

9.  His application for leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision was dismissed by the Court of Final Appeal on 23 December 2021.

10.  He applied to the Director for making a subsequent claim for non-refoulement protection by letter dated 8 March 2022.

11.  By the Director’s Decision, the Director refused his application.

The subsequent claim application

12.  The factual basis of his previous claim is that if refouled, he would be harmed or killed by people of Pakistan People’s Party (“PPP”) because he was accused of causing the death of four PPP people.

13.  The Director found that his claim was not substantiated. He found that the risk of him being harmed by his enemies was low as shown by the low intensity and frequency of past ill-treatments from them; that there was no evidence that the applicant would be subjected to a real risk of being harmed or killed by his enemies as there was no evidence to show that they intended to kill him; that the state was not involved and state protection would be available to him and that internal relocation was a viable option open to him.

14.  He appealed the Director’s Decision to the Board. The Board, having considered the evidence, agreed with the Director. It further found that the applicant was not subject to real or genuine risk of being harmed or killed upon his refoulement; that his evidence was not reliable.

15.  Under section 37ZO of the Ordinance, he has to satisfy the immigration officer that there has been a significant change of circumstances since the previous claim was finally determined and such change of circumstances, when taken together with the material previously submitted, would give the subsequent claim a realistic prospect of success.

16.  In support of his subsequent claim, he submitted two letters to the Director, saying that his enemies had fabricated false cases against him and threatened his family members in Pakistan. The other letter was containing the medical report of his father, who was allegedly injured by his enemies in a traffic case where his father was knocked down from his motorbike and was beaten by his enemies.

17.  The Director considered that those facts had been considered in his previous claim. The Director therefore found that the applicant relies upon the same or similar facts in support of the subsequent claim, such facts, when considered together with his previous claim, will not give him a realistic chance of success in his subsequent claim. The Director dismissed the applicant’s subsequent claim application.

The application for leave to apply for judicial review

18.  The applicant has filed an affirmation in support of his application. He said that the Director is biased and unfair in dealing with his application for the reasons below:

a.  the threshold is unnecessarily high for his case;

b.  the immigration officer’s decision is not based on facts of his case and he had not taken the unique situation;

c.  the immigration merely repeated what was decided by the Board;

d.  there was no screening interview for him and he was not allowed to appeal to the Board before apply for leave for judicial review;

e.  the immigration officer did not take his evidence seriously as he simply brushed aside the evidence of his father’s incident as hearsay evidence;

f.  the immigration officer did not take into account that there is no fair and proper judicial process in Pakistan and if he returns to Pakistan, he will be arrested and will have no justice;

g.  it is illogical for the immigration officer to treat the additional information as those included in his previous claim; and

h.  the immigration officer is biased and the Department is merely trying to dispose of his case as quickly as possible and did not carefully consider all the information and evidence.

DISCUSSION

19.  The role of this Court is supervisory, meaning that it ensures that the Director complied with the public law requirements in coming to his Decision. The Court will not usurp his fact finding power. See TK v Michael C Jenkins Esq and Director of Immigration [2013] 1 HKC 526, §40 and Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524, §14 (1).

20.  The Court will bear in mind that the Director’s Decision should be examined with rigorous examination and anxious scrutiny. Before me, the applicant said he understood the Director’s reasons for rejecting his subsequent claim application and he was not saying that the Director was wrong.

21.  As to the grounds raised by the applicant in support of his application in paragraph 18 above, grounds a, b, c, f, g and h are his bare allegations or opinions. As to d, the procedures are provided under the Ordinance. The applicant’s previous claim had gone through the screening process. If the facts of the subsequent claim are similar or the same as the previous claim, it is nothing amiss for not having another screening process. This rationale applies the same for there being no appeal to the Board. As to e, the immigration officer considered that the materials relating to his father are hearsay evidence as he was unable to verify the evidence with his father, who is in Pakistan. The fact that his father was involved in a traffic accident and was beaten by other people may not be directly related to the applicant’s enemies. The immigration officer, being the fact finding officer, was entitled to take this view in his assessment of the evidence himself.

22.  The Court does not find any error of law or procedural unfairness in the Director’s Decision. The Director’s finding of the facts is not in any respect open to challenge as Wednesbury unreasonable or irrational.

23.  Since there is no realistic prospect of success in his subsequent claim, I dismiss his application for leave to apply for judicial review of the Director’s Decision.

The RPO

24.  The Director’s findings show that the applicant is attempting to re-litigate the facts in support of his previous claim for a subsequent claim, which will amount to an abuse of the process. The Court has the inherent jurisdiction to prevent the applicant from abusing its process by making a RPO and the extended order against him. See paragraphs 7 & 8 of the judgment of the Court of Final Appeal in Ng Yat Chi v Max Share Limited and China Resources (Holdings) Company Limited (2005) 8 HKCFAR 1.

25.  RPO is appropriate for the present case. See The Secretary for Justice v Yuen Oi Yee Lisa, alias Lisa Yuen, Lisa Lee and another [2006] 1 HKLRD 679, Re Wahyuni v Director of Immigration [2021] HKCFI 1991 by Hon. Chow JA (sitting as an additional judge of the Court of First Instance), 6 July 2021, § 9 and Re Uddin Borhan v Director of Immigration [2021] HKCFI 2129, § 25.

26.  In my view, the fact that the applicant is entitled to apply for subsequent claim under section 37ZO of the Ordinance is irrelevant so far as his intention is clearly an abuse of the process. The application should be viewed together with the procedural history of the case.

27.  For this reason, the Court has called upon the applicant to appear before it to show cause why RPO should not be made against him. Upon my enquiry what comments on the intended RPO, he said he had nothing to say.

28.  I am satisfied that, if not restrained, it is likely that the applicant would proceed with this application and other proceedings for the sole purpose of remaining in Hong Kong only. I shall therefore make the RPO in terms below:

(1)  The Applicant be prohibited from commencing any fresh proceedings by whatever originating process, or continuing any existing legal proceedings, relating to any non-refoulement claim of the Applicant in the High Court, and any appeal, including this Order, without leave of the Court of First Instance.

(2)  All applications for leave under paragraph (1) shall be made to Deputy High Court Judge K. W. Lung or in his absence, the Judge in charge of the Constitutional and Administrative Law List or such other Judge as may be designated by the Chief Judge of the High Court to hear cases in the Constitutional and Administrative Law List.

(3)  At least 7 days before filing any application for leave under paragraph (1), the Applicant do notify in writing each intended defendant or respondent of his intention to make such application, enclosing a copy of the draft document by which the fresh proceedings are intended to be commenced, and if any response is received by the Applicant from any such intended defendant or respondent, that the Applicant do file a copy of each such response together with the said application for leave.

(4)  Any intended defendant or respondent having notice of such intended proceedings be entitled but under no obligation to place before the Court written representations regarding the same.

(5)  All applications made pursuant to this order and all ancillary matters be dealt with by the Court on paper and without any oral hearing unless the Court should otherwise direct.

(6)  If the Applicant should issue fresh proceedings falling or which may fall within the terms of paragraph (1) without first seeking the Court’s leave, and if such fact should come to the notice of the Registrar of the High Court or any Master or Judge, such fresh proceedings be referred to the Court for a decision as to whether they should be permitted to continue or should be dismissed.

(7)  Notice of each decision by this Court or the designated Judge made pursuant to this order be given in writing to the Applicant and to each intended defendant or respondent named in the fresh proceedings.

(8)  Whether or not any fresh proceedings are brought to the notice of the Court, if a defendant or respondent is served with such proceedings without the relevant documents being accompanied by either an order granting leave to commence such proceedings or a direction that leave to commence such proceedings is not required, such defendant or respondent be entitled to make no response to such service pending notification of the Court’s decision in relation to those proceedings; and that time for acknowledging service or for otherwise responding to such proceedings be deemed extended accordingly.

(9)  No more than one leave application under paragraph (1) may be made by the Applicant within any period of 3 months.

(10)  No appeal shall lie from a decision of the Judge granting or refusing leave within this Order, unless leave to appeal has been granted by the Judge.

(11)  This order shall cease to have effect at the end of 5 years from the date of this order.

(12)  A copy of this Order shall be sent to the Registrar of the High Court.

DISPOSITION

29.  The applicant’s application is dismissed.

30.  RPO in terms of paragraph 28 be made against the applicant.

Where leave to apply has been granted, Applicants and their legal advisers are reminded of their obligation to reconsider the merits of their application in the light of the Respondent’s evidence

Form CALL-1