As for the Asylum request: Huh, there is not a FORM for this?! You can just phrase it as you want, in your own words...?
That was a surprise to me.
My guess is that he did not have access to the appropriate forms, and so the human rights activists and the lawyer he met with probably advised him to just write it out on a piece of paper. Perhaps he has to make the written request before they can provide him with additional forms. I dunno.