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| The Court of Appeals hearings are held at the High Court |
A Filipino tourist who claimed to have fled to Hong Kong to escape his girlfriend and her family who wanted to kill him, has failed to get the Court of Appeal to overturn a decision to reject his application for asylum.
Benedicto Pimentel Jr. had claimed that “he would be harmed
or killed by his former girlfriend and her family due to the former
girlfriend’s affairs with some other men,” the Court of Appeal noted in its
decision dated July 31, 2024.
Pimentel arrived in Hong Kong as a visitor on June 26, 2015,
and overstayed after his two-week limit of stay.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
He was arrested by police on Aug. 10, 2015. He applied two
days later at the Immigration Department for non-refoulement or protection from
forcible return to his country of origin.
Three years later, on Nov. 16, 2018, the Director of Immigration
dismissed his claim on all applicable grounds, among them the risk of torture,
death, and persecution.
Pimentel appealed the to the Torture Claims Appeal Board,
which confirmed the Director’s decision on May 9, 2019.
Not only did it rule that his claim did not meet the
requirements for giving asylum, it also noted that “his claim (is) nothing more
than a fabrication” and described his “evidence (as) unreliable and at times,
even absurd.”
On May 21, 2019, Pimentel went up to the High Court to apply
for leave to apply for judicial review.
Deputy High Court Judge K W Lung refused on April 3, 2024 to
grant such leave, saying there is no valid “ground to challenge the Board’s
Decision.”
After he raised his case to the Court of Appeal last April 8,
Justices of Appeal Thomas Au and Anderson Chow ruled: “The Applicant’s appeal
has no merits, and is dismissed.”
“(Pimentel) has failed to identify or show any error in the Judge’s decision of 3 April 2024, or raise any viable ground of appeal against the Order,” the decision explained.
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