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HONG KONG — The president of Britain’s Supreme Courtroom mentioned Wednesday that he and a colleague had been stepping down from their roles on Hong Kong’s highest court docket as a result of the administration of the Chinese language territory had “departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression.”
Their resignations will heighten scrutiny of Hong Kong’s British-style authorized system, which the previous British colony stored even after it returned to Chinese language management in 1997. Whereas the system has lengthy had a repute of independence, Beijing’s imposition of a strict nationwide safety regulation on Hong Kong in 2020 has put it underneath growing strain to uphold the federal government’s crackdown on dissent.
Judges from nations together with Britain, Australia and New Zealand have served as nonpermanent judges on Hong Kong’s Courtroom of Last Enchantment alongside town’s chief justice and different native judges. The association was devised to take care of the authorized system’s contact with the larger frequent regulation world even after management of the territory returned to Beijing.
The resignations of the president of Britain’s Supreme Courtroom, Robert Reed, and Patrick Hodge, the deputy president, will add to questions concerning the autonomy of Hong Kong’s judiciary.
Lord Reed mentioned in a written assertion that judges of Britain’s Supreme Courtroom couldn’t proceed sitting in Hong Kong “with out showing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression, to which the Justices of the Supreme Courtroom are deeply dedicated.”
The nationwide safety regulation had made the query of whether or not such participation was in Britain’s nationwide curiosity “more and more finely balanced,” he mentioned, including that Hong Kong’s courts “proceed to be internationally revered for his or her dedication to the rule of regulation.”
The resignations had been backed by the British authorities, with Liz Truss, the international secretary, and Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, saying they endorsed the transfer.
“The state of affairs has reached a tipping level the place it’s not tenable for British judges to take a seat on Hong Kong’s main court docket, and would threat legitimizing oppression,” Ms. Truss mentioned in a press release.
The Hong Kong authorities expressed “vehement opposition” to criticism concerning the metropolis’s authorized system and the safety regulation in a press release on Wednesday. It accused Britain itself of placing political strain on Hong Kong’s judiciary, arguing {that a} debate in Parliament on Wednesday on the position of British judges in Hong Kong “might effectively have influenced the resignation of the 2 serving U.Okay. judges.”
Andrew Cheung, the Hong Kong chief justice, mentioned in a press release on Wednesday that the courts had been dedicated to upholding the rule of regulation and judicial independence within the territory.
“This dedication is wholly unaffected by the departure of the 2 judges,” he added.
The position of the British Supreme Courtroom judges on Hong Kong’s Courtroom of Last Enchantment is exclusive as a result of they’re performing judges at residence. Different international judges on the Hong Kong court docket, together with present members from Britain, Australia and Canada, are retired.
However the resignation of the high-profile British judges may strain others to comply with, authorized specialists mentioned.
“This can affect numerous public opinion, despite the fact that it might not really be true by way of the state of justice in Hong Kong,” mentioned Simon Younger, a regulation professor on the College of Hong Kong.
“This ongoing notion and actuality — you see this nice divide,” he added. “After which, after all, it places the opposite international judges in a tough place as a result of they are going to be requested, ‘If that is true, why are you staying?’”
James Spigelman, a decide from Australia, stepped down from Hong Kong’s prime court docket in 2020, citing the safety regulation.
Greater than 150 individuals have been arrested underneath the nationwide safety regulation because it was imposed in 2020. They embody Jimmy Lai, the founding father of a now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper, and 47 of town’s most distinguished opposition politicians and activists, who had been accused of attempting to subvert the federal government by vowing to dam its agenda within the legislature.
The regulation launched some vital modifications to Hong Kong’s system, together with permitting the federal government to designate which judges would hear instances underneath the regulation, and strictly limiting bail. A lot of the politicians and activists charged underneath the regulation stay in jail awaiting trial greater than a 12 months later.
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