This week Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal rejected an appeal to overturn the convictions of Jimmy Lai and 6 other pro-democracy campaigners.

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Photo credit: Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP)

Hong Kong’s latest attack on the rule of law – and British complicity in it

This week Hong Kong ([link removed]) 's Court of Final Appeal rejected an appeal to overturn the convictions of Jimmy Lai and 6 other pro-democracy campaigners.

Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, Margaret Ng, Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan, ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung, and Cyd Ho are being punished for taking part in peaceful protests on 18 August 2019. That day some 1.7 million people joined the demonstration at Victoria Park, once the site of the annual Tiananmen Square candlelight memorial demonstration, which has also become a victim of Hong Kong’s growing authoritarianism.

The story made headlines in the UK press, not simply because it’s yet another illustration of Hong Kong’s growing repression – but also because of a British judge’s complicity in it. Lord David Neuberger, former UK Supreme Court Justice, sits as a Non-Permanent Judge on the Hong Kong court and was among the 5 justices to hear the appeal. By participating in the process, he played a part in stripping 7 people of their fundamental rights, and sent a message to many, many more.

Neuberger also chairs the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom under the global Media Freedom Coalition, a partnership of countries ‘working together proactively to advocate for media freedom at home and abroad’. It’s hard to reconcile Lord Neuberger’s continuing global media freedom advocacy with his involvement in a system that perpetuates authoritarian repression of free and independent media.

This is why, in light of this week’s verdict, ARTICLE 19 and others have called on the Media Freedom Coalition and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, which houses the High-Level Panel, to review Lord Neuberger’s role as Chair.

Ultimately, Lord Neuberger should resign from the Hong Kong court – and stop lending credibility to a system that is actively dismantling and making a mockery of the rule of law.

“The ongoing legal harassment of anyone who dares to plan or participate in pro-democracy protests is clearly designed to signal that in Hong Kong there is no freedom of expression or peaceful protest. The participation of sympathetic foreign justices in this crackdown on fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, coupled with the ongoing transnational repression of protest leaders and campaigners abroad, are both part of China’s efforts to reframe authoritarianism and repression at home and around the world behind the veil of the rule of law. Staying on in Hong Kong now to ‘support the rule of law’ merely supports repression.”

– Michael Caster, ARTICLE 19’s Asia Digital Programme Manager

Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy campaigners must be immediately and unconditionally released. Hong Kong must protect the freedoms of expression and peaceful protest ([link removed]) .

Read more about Hong Kong ([link removed]) since the 2019 protests, the arrests that followed, and authorities’ use of national security laws to censor dissent.

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Summer break

Thank you for following our news and campaigns, and thanks to those of you who took part in our audience survey. We’ll be taking a short break in August, so see you in the first week of September, when you’ll find ARTICLE 19’s Weekly Briefing back in your inbox.
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