Upholding Criminal Justice and Setting an Example
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
8 | Tuesday, February 2, 2021 HONG KONG| EDITION CHINA DAILY COMMENTHK Hong Kong Law Society: People’s denouncement Upholding criminal justice and setting an example Grenville Cross says by eschewing political posturing, looking after the interests of lawyers, the SAR’s Law Society has shown that it has got its priorities right n January, after it emerged Secretary for Justice, Teresa Cheng Yeuk- that a British barrister, David wah, was quick to denounce this a ront to Perry QC, had been briefed by the rule of law, the Hong Kong Bar Asso- the Department of Justice to ciation, which has about 1,500 members, held back, which surprised many. After all, prosecute a public order case in Hong Kong residents protest on Monday outside the British Consulate-General in Hong Hong Kong, he was subjected Grenville Cross as Perry had been politically intimidated Kong, condemning the UK for meddling in China’s internal affairs and interfering with to an unprecedented campaign The author is a senior counsel, law after having been admitted by the High Hong Kong’s judicial independence. RAYMOND CHAN / CHINA DAILY of political intimidation in his own coun- professor and criminal justice analyst, Court to prosecute a case in Hong Kong, Itry. This was designed to secure his with- and was previously the director of pub- the association should have been scream- drawal from the case, and it made a mock- lic prosecutions of the Hong Kong SAR. ing from the rooftops, and its silence was ery of traditional British notions of fair deafening. If the association is unwilling play. What compounded the abuse was its The Law Society pointed out to support Perry, the question inevitably orchestration by legal professionals, who, that, under the Basic Law, arises of whether it will lift a fi nger to despite also being politicians, should still protect the overseas judges who sit on the What is the British have known right from wrong. the Department of Justice Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, given The case involves nine defendants, is vested with the control that Raab also has them in his sights. including Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Martin of criminal prosecutions, On January 20, moreover, when the Lee Chu-ming, and Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, outgoing Bar chairman, Philip Dykes SC, government up to? who are accused of engaging in an unau- free from any interference met the media, he disclosed that the Bar thorized assembly on August 18, 2019. At (Art.63), and that this must Association had released nearly 50 state- the trial, which starts on February 16 in the be respected. By declaring ments during his 3-year tenure, with 20 he British government announced District Court, the prosecution will argue having come in the past year alone. Such last year that it would o er a British that, following an approved meeting in Vic- that it “strongly condemns prodigality, quite clearly, made it all the National Overseas (BNO) visa for toria Park, on August 18, 2019, the defen- any attempt to assert pres- more surprising that the association could BN(O) passport holders and their dants, in defi ance of police objections, not fi nd it in itself to denounce the politi- Tclose family members from January 2021. sure to inhibit the proper cal intimidation of a fellow barrister, par- embarked upon an unauthorized march Beijing reacted strongly, and announced that Ho Lok-sang from Causeway Bay to Central. They have functioning of lawyers”, the ticularly as he is well known to the local it would no longer accept the BN(O) passport The author is a senior research fellow at the been jointly charged with two o enses con- Society has said what need- Bar, and was due to appear shortly in the as a travel document. Other countermeasures Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Eco- trary to the Public Order Ordinance, one of city’s courts. may also be in the pipeline. nomic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan organizing an unauthorized assembly, and ed to be said, and barristers Instead, however, of leaping to Perry’s One might say that immigration policy is University. the other of participating in it. and solicitors alike will support, Dykes chose to wax lyrical about the prerogative of any sovereign nation. Why As the case is expected to involve com- welcome this strident affir- judicial independence, claiming that it was should Beijing be upset? It is important to Instead of reassuring Beijing plex constitutional and human rights threatened by the National Security Law. point out that ensuring national security and that Hong Kong is ready, issues, Perry was retained, given his exper- mation of lawyers’ indepen- He should, however, have been concen- territorial integrity is also the prerogative of tise in these areas. The defendants them- dence at a critical time. trating on the immediate threat to pros- a sovereign nation. In the Joint Declaration, some people, led by the op- selves have hired some highly experienced ecutorial independence, and which has the UK accepted that China has sovereignty position parties, asked to barristers to represent them, including now resulted in a distinguished barrister over Hong Kong. But the UK billed the move bypass the nominating com- Paul Harris SC, the new chairman of the of Hong Kong Watch’s functionaries, Luke being hounded o a case in which he had to o er a BN(O) pathway to migrate to the Hong Kong Bar Association. Although, Pulford, went completely over the top, accepted instructions. When, moreover, UK as protecting Hong Kong people from mittee and bring in “civic therefore, Perry’s retention was eminently describing Perry’s involvement as “an utter Dykes’ successor, Paul Harris SC, met the the National Security Law. This not only nomination” and “party sensible, there was an immediate reaction disgrace and humiliation for the United media on the following day, by which time disregards China’s need for national security nomination”. Because these against him, led by prominent politicians. Kingdom”, which even Rifkind must have Perry’s withdrawal had been confi rmed, he and territorial integrity, but also deviated On January 16, when interviewed by realized was a grotesque misrepresenta- gleefully slagged o the National Security from what was stated in a memorandum things are not in the Basic Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, the UK Foreign tion. Law and the police force, while ignoring exchanged in December of 1984 that clearly Law Beijing of course could Secretary, Dominic Raab, a lawyer himself, Hard on Rifkind’s heels, nonetheless, Perry’s persecution, the elephant in the stipulated that BN(O) holders would not have chose to malign Perry, in a scurrilous fash- came the parliamentarian Bob Seely, room. Even now, despite the assault on the right of abode in the UK. The “pathway” not agree to that. Thus it is the ion. He accused the distinguished barrister who, in a particularly vile contribution, criminal justice, nothing has been heard is an a ront to China’s sovereignty over Hong “protesters”, not Beijing, who of behaving in “a pretty mercenary way”, announced that “no lawyer who has any from the Bar Association, although not all Kong. have deviated from the Basic and providing the Chinese government sense of moral value or moral worth is yet lost. Surely the UK should know that national with “a public relations coup”. As to the should take this case on”. These, however, On January 27, the Law Society, under security is an important matter to any sover- Law and thus the Sino-British basis of his ugly slur, Raab claimed he were not the objective comments of a con- the indomitable leadership of Melissa eign nation. Readers can examine for them- Joint Declaration. could not understand “how anyone of cerned politician, but the rantings of an Pang Wan-hei, stepped into the breach, selves some facts, and see the absurdity of the good conscience, from the world-leading obsessive China basher. This is the same and provided the clear direction for claim that Beijing breached what was prom- legal profession that we have, would take Bob Seely who, from August 30 to Septem- which the private sector yearned. In its ised in the Sino-British Declaration. upon nomination by a broadly representative a case where they will have to apply the ber 1, 2019, went on an all-expenses paid “Statement in relation to upholding the The Basic Law in force today was promul- nominating committee in accordance with national security legislation at the behest trip, or “freebie”, to Hong Kong, fi nanced independence of the legal profession and gated back in 1990, and its drafting took years democratic procedures.” of the authorities in Beijing, which is by “Stand with Hong Kong”, the viru- the criminal justice system”, the Society of consultation in Hong Kong. In Annex I of Since “the selection of the Chief Executive directly violating, undermining the free- lently anti-police, pro-protester grouping fl agged up the United Nations Basic the Joint Declaration, under “Constitution” are by universal su rage upon nomination by a dom of the people of Hong Kong”. which acts as the alter ego of Hong Kong Principles on the Role of Lawyers (1990). “Establishment of the Hong Kong S.A.R.” and broadly representative nominating committee Although this tirade undoubtedly played Watch. This, moreover, is the very same These principles require governments to “The Basic Law”. We can say therefore that in accordance with democratic procedures” is well in some circles, there was one major Bob Seely who is the vice chairman of the ensure that lawyers “are able to perform the Basic Law is the embodiment of the Sino- an “ultimate aim”, it is clear that the nominat- problem with it.