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Ali Rafaqat v Torture Claims Appeal Board / Non-refoulement Claims Petition Office And Another [Decision On Leave Application]

Judgment Cited authorities 5 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
Judgment Date02 June 2020
Neutral Citation[2020] HKCFI 507
Year2020
Judgement NumberHCAL1419/2018
Subject MatterConstitutional and Administrative Law Proceedings
CourtCourt of First Instance (Hong Kong)
HCAL1419/2018 ALI RAFAQAT v. TORTURE CLAIMS APPEAL BOARD / NON-REFOULEMENT CLAIMS PETITION OFFICE AND ANOTHER

HCAL 1419/2018

[2020] HKCFI 507

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW LIST No. 1419 of 2018

BETWEEN

Ali Rafaqat Applicant
and
Torture Claims Appeal Board /
Non-Refoulement Claims Petition Office		 1st Putative Respondent
Director of Immigration 2nd Putative Respondent

Application for Leave to Apply for Judicial Review

NOTIFICATION of the Judge’s decision (Ord. 53 r. 3)

Following:

consideration of the documents only; or
consideration of the documents and oral submissions by the Applicant in open court;

Order by Deputy High Court Judge Bruno Chan:

Leave to apply for judicial review refused.

Observations for the Applicant:

1. The Applicant is a 40-year-old national of Pakistan who last entered Hong Kong illegally on 26 October 2015 and was arrested by police on the same day. After he was referred to the Immigration Department for investigation, he raised a non-refoulement claimon the basis that if he returned to Pakistan he would be harmed or killed by certain supporters of rival political party Pakistan Muslim League (N) (“PML(N)”). He was subsequently released on recognizance pending the determination of his claim.

2. The Applicant was born and raised in Jalalpur Jattan, Gujrat, Pakistan. After leavingschool he worked as a carpenter, and followed in his family’s footstep to support the political party Pakistan Peoples Party (“PPP”) by attending their local meetings and rallies as well as assisting in their election campaigns.

3. In about 2001 during the general elections, the Applicant and his family were approached by several supporters of PML(N) led by their local leader Rizwan who tried to persuade them to leave PPP to join their party and to vote for their candidates, but when the Applicant and his family refused, they then left angrily.

4. On the following day Rizwan returned with his men to the Applicant’s home, broke into the house and shot and killed the Applicant’s grandfather and uncle. After the Applicant’s father reported the killings to the police, subsequently two of Rizwan’s men were arrested by the police and were later sentenced by the court to prison, but Rizwan was never arrested by the police, as the Applicant suspected that the local police were under his influence.

5. One day in 2007 the Applicant’s father received a telephone call from Rizwan who threatened to kill the Applicant unless he withdrew the murder charges against him. Aboutone month later while the Applicant was waiting for the bus at the bus stop in Gujrat, Rizwan and his men drove by in a car and shot at the Applicant with an automatic rifle but missed him and then they immediately drove away. After the incident the Applicant reported the matter to the police but again no action appeared to have been taken by them.

6. As the Applicant became fearful for his life, he therefore fled to Lahore to stay at his friend’s place, and then on 17 December 2007 he departed Pakistan for China, and laterhe sneaked into Hong Kong, and upon his arrest by the police he raised a torture claim, but while his claim was being processed, he received news from his family in January 2010 that Rizwan had left the country, and thinking it would be safe to return to Pakistan, he therefore withdrew his torture claim and was repatriated to Pakistan in February 2010.

7. However, several months later when he heard that Rizwan had returned to Pakistan and was still looking for him, the Applicant therefore left Pakistan again on 17 June 2010 for Macau, and from there he again sneaked into Hong Kong and raised another torture claim, but when he was later told by his family that his mother was seriously ill, he therefore withdrew his claim and in September 2014 was repatriated to Pakistan.

8. Upon his return home the Applicant had had no further encounter with Rizwan, butone day in early 2015 several PML(N) supporters approached him to ask him to join their party,but when he refused, they attacked him with wooden sticks and damaged things in his home.

9. About a month later those PML(N) supporters came again and made the same demand for him to join their party, and proceeded to beat him until he fell to the ground,and before they left they threatened that next time if he still refused to join their party,they would kill him.

10. After those men had left, the Applicant felt it was no longer safe to remain in Pakistan, and so on 22 October 2015 he departed for China, and from there he later again sneaked into Hong Kong and raised his non-refoulement claim for protection, for which he...

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