Judge said the Philippines has no pattern or mass violation of human rights |
By The SUN
A Filipino tourist has failed in his attempt to get the High
Court to grant him leave for a judicial review of the Hong
Kong government’s decision to reject his application for non-refoulement,
or against being sent back home.
Manuel Doctor was the latest in a long list of Filipino
applicants who failed to convince the court to allow a review of the
Immigration Director’s decision denying them permission to stay.
Judge K.W. Lung said in his decision dated Jul 17 that the
application had no reasonable prospect of success.
Doctor had argued that the Director failed to
give credence to his claim that he would be harmed or killed by a drug
trafficker if he was sent back home.
The applicant came to Hong Kong on Jun 27, 2016 as a visitor did not leave at
the end of his two-week permit to stay. On Jul 14, 2016, or three days after he
overstayed he surrendered to Immigration then filed for non-refoulement.
In statements he submitted to
Immigration and the Torture Claims Appeal Board, Doctor said he met a certain
drug trafficker named Jonjon Andrada who allegedly threatened to kill him if
then candidate Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential election.
Since Duterte was elected
President in May that year, Doctor said he decided to come to Hong
Kong out of fear that the drug dealer would make good his threat.
But the Immigration Director found that the legal provisions
that allow the granting of non-refoulement were not met in Doctor’s case,
including risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, or
persecution.
The Director refused Doctor’s claim on Feb 13 last year. On
Jun 22 of the same year, he appealed the decision to the TCAB, However, the
board affirmed the Director’s decision.
The board said it accepted the facts cited in Doctor’s claim
but found that state protection was available to him; that there was
insufficient evidence to show that the state was involved; and that the harm he
feared was not among those cited in the Immigration Ordinance.
Further, there was no evidence that the Philippines had a pattern of gross,
flagrant or mass violation of human rights.
“This is a clear case that the applicant brought the fear
upon himself without any facts or evidence in support of it,” said Lung.
He said four of the grounds
Doctor had cited were not supported by evidence, a fifth was inconsistent
with what he said before the CFI.
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