- HK’s Lee took action after failing to bar a UK barrister from the case.
- There is growing concern over the erosion of HK judicial independence.
- The government may seek a delay in the start of Jimmy Lai’s trial.
Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s leader asked on Monday Beijing to rule in its bid to bar foreign lawyers from working on national security cases, after the city’s high court ruled that a British lawyer could represent jailed pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai.
John Lee’s application follows a series of setbacks. Hong Kong effortsThe Justice Department and the top legal official, Paul Lam, to block British barrister Timothy Owen from representing Lai in a landmark national security trial that is set to begin on December 1.
But Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA) handed down a final ruling on the matter on Monday, ordering the government to impose a “blanket ban” on foreign lawyers working on national security cases to prevent anomalous situations. Rejected the request.
Lai is one of Hong Kong’s most prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, including Xi Jinping, and Hong Kong’s Justice Department has repeatedly tried to block Owen from representing him.
Speaking to reporters a few hours later, Li said he would ask the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress to interpret the legal issue, and that the government should try to delay the start of Li’s trial. would be “appropriate”. Start on Thursday.
Lai’s lawyer, Robert Peng, said at a hearing last week that any delay, or blocking Owen for so long, could result in an unfair trial for Lai.
Li’s move would be only the sixth time China’s top legislature has considered legal issues in Hong Kong, a former British colony that is separated from China under the “one country, two systems” arrangement. Judicial independence is guaranteed.
“There is no effective mechanism to ensure that an overseas lawyer does not have a conflict of interest because of his nationality,” Lee told reporters. “And there is also no means of ensuring that he is not coerced, compromised or otherwise controlled by foreign governments, associations or individuals.”
Cleaning up national security law
Lee also said there was no way to ensure that a foreign lawyer would not reveal state secrets that could be revealed during a national security trial.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020 after sometimes violent protests rocked the city for months a year ago.
Some foreign ambassadors and businessmen say they are closely watching the implementation of the law, which allows the city’s leader to choose judges for national security cases, amid concerns that it could undermine the law. has weakened the rule of
In March, two senior British jurists, Robert Reid and Patrick Hodge, resigned as non-permanent foreign judges from the court, saying they did not want to endorse an administration “that has departed from the values of political freedom, and freedom of expression”.
Beijing’s final legal interpretation of power is outlined in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that grants Hong Kong broad autonomy and independence.
For some lawyers and judges, this power points to a strange contradiction within the document: while it guarantees Hong Kong’s judicial independence, the Basic Law still gives Beijing the ultimate authority of interpretation.
The three-judge panel on the CFA — Chief Justices Andrew Cheung, Roberto Ribeiro and Joseph Fok — criticized the Justice Department in a written decision for “asking to raise unspecified and unsubstantiated national security issues that has not been mentioned or explored in the courts below.”
Lai faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, including two counts of conspiracy to conspire with foreign countries or foreign elements.
He also faces a sedition charge linked to his Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to close in June 2021 after a police raid and freezing of its assets.