Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal is unanimously upholding the conviction of billionaire Jimmy Lai on organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly, when pro-democracy protests roiled Hong Kong in the summer of 2019
British judge Jonathan Sumption issued a stark warning when he quit Hong Kong ’s top court in June, one of two foreign judges who resigned after 14 people were convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion.
That was nine weeks ago. This week, Hong Kong took yet another step toward the totalitarian, with the territory’s Court of Final Appeal unanimously upholding the conviction of billionaire Jimmy Lai on organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly, when pro-democracy protests roiled Hong Kong in the summer of 2019.
Thankfully, that group no longer includes former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Beverley McLachlin, who announced in June her plan to leave the court at the end of July. Her decision was too long in coming, and she did not denounce the assault on the rule of law as did her colleague, Mr. Sumption. But Ms. McLachlin has at least severed ties.
One immediate consequence of the Court of Final Appeal’s decision on Mr. Lai should be for Canada and the other member countries of the Media Freedom Coalition to present Mr. Neuberger with a choice. He can either continue to be a fig leaf for Beijing’s repression, or he can be an adviser on media freedom. The two are fundamentally at odds.
That principle is dead. Beijing seems happy enough for Hong Kong to continue to grow economically, in the same way that it wants, say, Shanghai to prosper. But the legal foundation upon which Hong Kong was built is fast dissolving. Perhaps the finer points of contract law can still be argued in court, and perhaps ruled on impartially. For now.
Law Beijing China Rule Hong Kong Hong Kong Supreme Court Of Canada Shanghai Communist Party
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