NKONGE DAUDA v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD/ NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE

CACV 492/2025, [2026] HKCA 453

On appeal from [2025] HKCFI 2826

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO 492 OF 2025

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO 3614 OF 2019)

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BETWEEN

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JUDGMENT

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The Court:

INTRODUCTION

1.  This is the applicant’s appeal against the order of Deputy High Court Judge (Non-refoulement Claims) Teresa Wu (“the Judge”) dated 3 July 2025[1] (“the Order”) refusing to grant leave to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office (“the Board”) dated 14 November 2019 (“the Board’s Decision”).

BACKGROUND

2.  The applicant is a national of Uganda. He lodged his non-refoulement claim with the Immigration Department on the basis that, if refouled, he would be harmed or killed by reason of his religious conversion from Islam to Christianity. The applicant’s non-refoulement claim was rejected by the Director on 3 September 2018, and his appeal against it was rejected by the Board. Details of the applicant’s claim and the Board’s reasons for rejecting the applicant’s appeal can be found in the Board’s Decision, the hyperlink to which can be found in the Form CALL-1.

3.  The applicant’s application for leave to apply for judicial review was refused by the Judge and details of the Judge’s reasons for refusing to grant leave can be found in the Form CALL-1.

GROUNDS OF APPEAL

4.  By a notice of appeal filed on 14 July 2025, the applicant sought to appeal the Judge’s decision to this court. For the grounds of appeal, the applicant stated that (sic) “The High Court did not consider my JR. Adjudicator did not give me correct decision. His decision is full of wrong. Please grant my leave”.

5.  In the applicant’s skeleton submissions lodged on 20 January 2026, he reiterated his claim and that his life would be at risk if refouled and that he would be tortured or killed by his enemies. He asserted that :-

a. the Judge failed to apply the principles of rationality, procedural fairness and high standards of fairness and also failed to analyse his claims properly;

b. the Board relied on source of news which is not officially recognised or was simply hearsay;

c. the Board failed to give him sufficient chance to arrange for the relevant evidence and failed to evaluate whether a consistent pattern of gross and mass violation of human rights or state protection existed in his home country;

d. the Board failed to analyse and assess the issue of state protection in his home country.

6.  At the hearing on 24 February 2026, the applicant confirmed that he has nothing further to add to his written submissions.

LEGAL PRINCIPLES

7.  In an appeal against refusal of leave to apply for judicial review in non-refoulement cases, the Court of Appeal would only examine the decision of the judge in light of the grounds advanced by the applicant. If no viable ground is put forward to reverse the judge’s decision, the appeal should be dismissed. The Court of Appeal’s role is not to examine the Board’s decision afresh as if it was a fresh application for judicial review (see Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524, at §14(6)).

8.  The assessment of evidence, country of origin information, risk of harm, state protection and viability of internal relocation are primarily within the province of the Board and the Director. The court will not intervene by way of judicial review unless there are errors of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the Board: Re Kartini [2019] HKCA 1022.

DISCUSSION & DISPOSITION

9.  In the present case, the Judge found no error of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the Board.

10.  It is incumbent on the applicant to point out the Judge's errors with sufficient particulars and specifics. In our view, the matters set out in the applicant’s notice of appeal and written submissions, which basically repeated his claim, failed to identify any error on the part of the Judge. They do not constitute any viable grounds of appeal and lack substance. We see no basis to interfere with the Judge’s decision.

11.  For the above reasons, the applicant’s appeal is devoid of merits. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal.