ASGHAR SHAH ALI v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD / NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE

CACV 1158/2025, [2026] HKCA 77

On Appeal From [2025] HKCFI 5513

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO 1158 OF 2025

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO 1377 OF 2020)

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J U D G M E N T

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Hon Chow JA (giving the Judgment of the Court):

1.  This is the Applicant’s appeal against the order of Deputy High Court Judge (Non-refoulement Claims) Y W Hew (“the Judge”) dated 4 December 2025 (“the Order”) refusing to grant leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review of the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office (“the Board”) dated 24 June 2020 (“the Board’s Decision”), whereby the Board dismissed the Applicant’s appeal against the decision of the Director of Immigration (“the Director”) dated 6 August 2018 rejecting his non-refoulement claim.

2.  The Applicant alleges that, if refouled to Pakistan, he will be harmed or killed by followers of a religious party because he had fights with them and he was a member of another religious party[1]. The Applicant’s background, the basis of his claim, the findings of the Board and its reasons for dismissing his appeal against the Director’s decision are set out in detail in the Board’s Decision, and referred to by the Judge in the Judge’s decision (see at §§1 and 4 of the Form CALL-1). We do not propose to repeat them here.

3.  The Judge’s reasons for dismissing the Applicant’s leave application are set out at §§5-14 of the Form CALL-1. In gist, the Judge considered that the Applicant had not advanced any or any proper grounds for his intended challenge against the Board’s Decision. The Judge also considered the Applicant had failed to raise any reasonably arguable case to challenge the Board’s Decision on any public law grounds.

THIS APPEAL

4.  In his Notice of Appeal filed on 9 December 2025, the Applicant states that he disagrees with the decisions of the Director and the Board, and believes that his case was not determined fairly. He complains that the Director and the Board did not properly investigate his claim. He repeats that his life will be in danger upon refoulement, and mentions that he is awaiting the result of his visa application in Hong Kong.

5.  The Applicant has failed to lodge written submissions in support of his appeal in accordance with the directions given by the Registrar of Civil Appeals on 9 December 2025. Accordingly, he is deemed to have waived the right to have an oral hearing of his appeal and elected to have his appeal disposed of on paper. Having considered the documents before us, we consider that it is appropriate to deal with the Applicant’s appeal on paper without an oral hearing.

DISCUSSION

6.  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’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)).

7.  Further, 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, at §13. No such error of law or procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the Board is shown in the present case.

8.  The Applicant’s complaints raised in the Notice of Appeal are all general allegations without particulars. His assertion that he has a visa application under process is irrelevant to his appeal. None of the matters raised by the Applicant gives rise to any valid ground of appeal.

9.  The Applicant has failed to identify or show any error in the Judge’s decision refusing to grant leave to apply for judicial review, or raise any viable ground of appeal against the Order.

10.  The Applicant’s appeal has no merit, and is dismissed.