Saifudin v. Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office
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CACV 698/2026, [2026] HKCA 1512 On Appeal From [2026] HKCFI 3178 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF APPEAL CIVIL APPEAL NO 698 OF 2026 (ON APPEAL FROM HCAL NO 1505 OF 2025) __________________________ BETWEEN
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________________ J U D G M E N T ________________ Hon Mimmie Chan J (giving the Judgment of the Court): 1.This is an appeal against the decision of Deputy High Court Judge KW Lung (“the Judge”) given on 18 June 2026[1] (“the Leave Decision”) refusing to grant leave for the applicant to apply for judicial review. The intended judicial review was against the decision of the Torture Claims Appeal Board/adjudicator of the Non-Refoulement Claims Petition Office (“the Board”) dated 9 May 2025 (“the Board’s Decision”) dismissing the applicant’s appeal against the decision of the Director of Immigration dated 18 March 2025 rejecting the applicant’s non-refoulement claim. 2.The applicant’s background, the basis of his claim and the Board’s reasons in reaching the Board’s Decision have been set out therein[2] as well as by the Judge in the Leave Decision at [4] and [8]-[10], which will not be repeated. 3.The applicant did not request for an oral hearing for the leave application. After considering the documents filed by the applicant, the Judge dismissed the application for the reasons stated at [13]-[18] of the Leave Decision. Appeal to this court 4.In a Notice of Appeal dated 25 June 2026, the applicant stated:
5.By written submissions dated 3 August 2026, the applicant repeated his personal background and the factual basis to his claim, and contended that the local authorities could not protect him and that internal relocation within Indonesia was not viable. 6.We heard the appeal on 18 August 2026, at which the applicant appeared in person. At the hearing, the applicant stated that he wished to submit new documents in support of his appeal. As those documents have not been placed before the Judge in the Court below, we will not consider the same on appeal. As the applicant made no further submissions save his intention to lodge new documents, we will accordingly determine the appeal on the basis on the materials already filed with the Court. Discussion 7.As this court has often stated, an appeal to the Court of Appeal is not a fresh application for judicial review. It is necessary to identify some error on the part of the judge that would justify this court in intervening: see Nupur Mst v Director of Immigration [2018] HKCA 524 at [14]. 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. An appeal is not the occasion for regurgitating arguments advanced and rejected by the judge or for running arguments which could and should have been raised but were not raised before the judge. In the determination of an appeal, the Court of Appeal focuses on the decision of the judge and the court will only reverse that decision if an appellant could demonstrate that the judge made errors of law or failed to take account of relevant matters already placed before the court or was otherwise plainly wrong. 8.The applicant has failed to identify any error on the part of the Judge and thus failed to raise any viable ground of appeal. The points advanced by the applicant were bare assertions unsupported by particulars or evidence. 9.In the present case, the Board considered the applicant’s evidence on material aspects of his claim to be inconsistent and incredible. The Board rejected as a matter of fact that the applicant had been threatened by the family of Supri (someone the applicant was said to have injured in a fight). Thus, there was no real risk of harm or ill-treatment upon the applicant’s return to Indonesia. These were findings open to the Board, and were sufficiently canvassed and considered by the Judge in the Leave Decision at [8]-[18]. We see no basis to interfere. 10.The applicant has accordingly failed to demonstrate how the Board had acted unlawfully or procedurally unfairly in reaching its Decision, or how such Decision could be said to be Wednesbury unreasonable. 11.As we have noted, the applicant advanced no viable grounds of appeal against the Judge’s decision. There is therefore no merit in the appeal and we dismiss the appeal accordingly.
The applicant appearing in person [2] https://legalref.judiciary.hk/doc/judg/html/vetted/other/en/2025/HCAL001505_2025_files/the_Board's_Decision.pdf |