Akash Mohammad Ferdush Rahman v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office

Case No.HCAL 1408/2022[2026] HKCFI 3517

Court

High Court CFI

Date22 Jun 2026

Judge—

Case Document

100%Judiciary

HCAL 1408/2022

[2026] HKCFI 3517

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No 1408 of 2022

BETWEEN
	Akash Mohammad Ferdush Rahman	Applicant
	and
	Torture Claims Appeal Board/	Putative
	Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office	Respondent
	and
	Director of Immigration	Putative
		Interested Party

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;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge (Non-refoulement Claims) Isaac Chan:

The application for leave to apply for Judicial Review be dismissed.

Observations for the Applicant:

1.By a Form 86 filed on 6 December 2022 (“Form 86”), the applicant, a national of Bangladesh, applied for leave to apply for judicial review against the decision of the Torture Claim Appeal Board / the Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office (“Board”) dated 23 November 2022 (“Board’s Decision”)[1] confirming the decision of the Director of Immigration (“Director”) dated 12 June 2020.

2.I refer to the Board’s Decision for the background of the applicant, the basis of the claim, the evidence and the argument the applicant has relied upon, which will not be repeated herein.

3.The Court’s role in a judicial review is not to provide a further avenue of appeal. The primary decision makers are the Director and the Board. Given the seriousness of the issue involved in non-refoulement cases, the Court will adopt an enhanced standard in scrutinizing the decisions of the Board. However, the Court will not intervene unless there are errors of law, procedural unfairness or irrationality in those decisions: see Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524, at paragraph 14.

4.The present application for leave is meant to be a filtering process, and I am not expected to give elaborated reasons for my decision: see Re Zunariyah [2018] HKCA 14, at paragraph 23. I will therefore provide brief reasons for my decision as follows.

Discussion

5.The applicant has advanced no grounds for the intended application for judicial review.

6.At the hearing on 4 May 2026, the applicant confirmed that he did not have any submissions to supplement the documents filed in support of the application under the Form 86.

7.Applying the enhanced standard of scrutiny, I do not see any errors of law, procedural unfairness of irrationality in the Board’s Decision.

8.The Board’s Decision has, with respect, correctly and comprehensively set out the applicable legal principles. I do not see any errors in either the summary or the application of those legal principles.

9.The Board’s Decision has also set out the procedural history of the applicant’s non-refoulement claim, including the details of the hearing before the Board on 27 October 2022. The applicant has made no complaint of any irregularities or unfairness in the entire process.

10.After a detailed analysis of the applicant’s evidence given (i) in the Non‑refoulement Claim Form, (ii) at the screening interview by an immigration officer, and (iii) at the appeal hearing, the Board concluded that the applicant was not a credible witness, and his factual assertions regarding violence of the members of the Awami League against him were incredible as they contained various inconsistencies and lacked corroborating evidence (see paragraphs 90 to 126 of the Board’s Decision). In any event, the Board took the view that state protection would be available, and internal relocation would be possible and not unduly harsh (see paragraphs 128 to 134 and paragraphs 135 to 139 of the Board’s Decision). Based on the available materials, the conclusions of the Board were clearly justifiable. I do not see any basis to suggest that the Board was irrational based on the principle set out in Associated Provincial Picture Houses v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223.

11.I therefore dismiss the application for leave to apply for judicial review under the Form 86.

Dated the 22^nd day of June 2026

(Wilinda YIU)
for Registrar, High Court

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

Notes for the Applicant: If leave has been granted, the Applicant or the Applicant’s solicitors must:
a) serve on the respondent and such interested parties as may be directed by the Court the order granting leave and any directions given within 14 days after the leave was granted (Order 53, rule 4A); b) issue the originating summons within 14 days after the grant of leave and serve it in accordance with Order 53, rule 5; and c) supply to every other party copies of every affidavit which the Applicant proposes to use at the hearing, including the affidavit in support of the application for leave (Order 53, rule 6(5)).		Sent to the Applicant on 22/6/2026 Akash Mohammad Ferdush Rahman Applicant’s ref. no: Nil		Sent to the Putative Respondent / the Putative Respondent’s solicitors / such Putative Interested Parties as may be directed by the Court / the Putative Interested Parties’ solicitors on 22/6/2026 Torture Claims Appeal Board/Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office Putative Respondent’s ref. no.: USM 17041 Director of Immigration Putative Interested Party’s ref. no.: RBCZ 10190/20 (PSO)(T2S1) Department of Justice, Senior Assistant Law Officer (Civil Law) (Civil Litigation Unit 2)

Form CALL-1

[1] https://legalref.judiciary.hk/doc/judg/html/vetted/other/en/2022/HCAL001408_2022_files/the_Board's_Decision.pdf

Cites 2 cases

Cases cited in this judgment

Nupur Mst v. Director of Immigration