AFGHAN SALIM KHAN v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD / NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE

CACV 565/2025, [2026] HKCA 577

On appeal from [2025] HKCFI 2435

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF APPEAL

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 565 OF 2025

(ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO. 601 OF 2025)

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J U D G M E N T

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The Court:

INTRODUCTION

1.  This is the applicant’s appeal against the order of Deputy High Court Judge K.W. Lung (“the Judge”) dated 18 July 2025 (“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 28 February 2025 (“the Board’s Decision”) whereby the Board dismissed his appeal against the decision of the Director of Immigration (“the Director”) dated 22 November 2024 (“the Director’s Decision”).

BACKGROUND

2.  The applicant is a national of Afghanistan. He lodged a non-refoulement claim with the Immigration Department on the basis that, if refouled, he would be harmed or killed by his girlfriend’s family members because of the relationship he had with his girlfriend. The applicant’s non-refoulement claim was rejected by the Director, and his appeal was rejected by the Board. A summary of the applicant’s background and his process before the Director and the Board can be found in the Judgment dated 18 July 2025 (“the Judgment”).

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 are set out in the Judgment.

GROUNDS OF APPEAL

4.  By a notice of appeal filed on 31 July 2025, the applicant sought to appeal the Judge’s decision to this court. For the grounds of appeal, the applicant stated that:

“I am disagree with the decision maker authorities. The decision made by the Director of Immigration, As well as the decision made by the Adjudicator of the Torture Claim Appeal Board. There is no proper investigation in my claim. My life still in danger in my home land.”

5.  In the applicant’s skeleton argument lodged on 5 March 2026, he disputed the decisions of the Director and the Board, without advancing any substantive argument against the Judge’s decision. He also complained about the lack of legal and language assistance.

6.  The appeal was heard on 25 March 2026. The applicant attended the hearing in person with the assistance of a Pashto interpreter. He added that his enemies refused to reconcile and they threatened to kill him.

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, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the Board: Re Kartini [2019] HKCA 1022.

DISCUSSION & DISPOSITION

9.  We are unpersuaded by the Applicant’s complaint of lack of legal and language assistance. As a matter of law, a non-refoulement claimant is not entitled to free legal representation at all stages of the process, and the high standard of fairness required by law would not entail an interpretation service to be made available at any time as the applicant desired. See Re Gurnishan Singh [2018] HKCA 704 at §§11 and 13. It is further noted that the Applicant was able to, either by himself or with assistance from others, lodge with the court applications written in comprehensible English.

10.  In the present case, no error of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in the decision of the Board was detected by the Judge or was pointed out by the applicant apart from the bare assertions as stated in his grounds of appeal and skeleton argument, which were not substantiated with any specific information or elaboration.

11.  It is incumbent on the applicant to point out the Judge's errors with sufficient particulars. In our view, the matters set out in the applicant’s notice of appeal and skeleton argument 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.

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