Sri Lankan first to win Hong Kong asylum under new appeal process

A torture claimant seeking asylum in Hong Kong is believed to be the first person to win an appeal case since a new process was put in place in 2009.

Mark Daly - lawyer for the Sri Lankan involved, a Tamil - said the case "lends some credibility to the process". The Torture Claims Appeal Board had received 1,335 appeals by the end of last year.

Daly said: "He was taken completely by surprise by the decision. It has been so long. He has been here in limbo for 10 years. He was really emotional and was not able to say much."

Last month, another Sri Lankan man became only the second torture claimant to have his application approved out of more than 12,000 the government has received since 1992, when the city began applying the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Human Rights Monitor director Law Yuk-kai welcomed the latest verdict, but feared the Immigration Department would launch a legal challenge against the decision by the board.

Daly said his client, who arrived in 2003 and is now in his 30s, received a letter from the board on Thursday giving the good news. The Security Bureau said yesterday the board's decision was final under the Immigration Ordinance, but it can be challenged through judicial review in court.

While it means he will no longer face repatriation, Daly said his client's rights in Hong Kong remained "minimal" and his future was still unclear.