Former Chinese leader Jiang Zhemin died yesterday and after Chinese state media grayed their webpages in tribute, Hong Kong official websites followed suit too -- and were so zealous in doing so that they did such as gray weather maps (making them ridiculously difficult to look at), made the Hong Kong flag look like the Hong Kong protest equivalent and turn photos of government officials into ones that looked like ones used for obituaries!
Another over zealous act by the Hong Kong government: the blocking of a top British human rights lawyer from representing jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai today -- not by the Court of Final Appeal (which, remember, had
dismissed an appeal by the government to overturn an earlier court
decision allowing a UK lawyer to defend media mogul Jimmy Lai in his
upcoming trial earlier this week) but, instead, by having the Immigration Department withhold Tim Owen's work visa. More precisely, as reported in The Guardian, "Hong Kong’s immigration department... withheld Owen’s application for
an extension of his work visa. The British barrister says he currently
has a visa for another case" that he's working on in Hong Kong!
Something else to note: the action by the Immigration Department has taken place prior to China officially decides on the matter, as Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee had indicated that he would ask them to do. In so doing, as journalist Lok Sum-kei (who goes by just Lok on Twitter) observed: "effectively, this is HK govt departments isolating the court - the final court of appeal, no less - by administrative means, an awkward situation in a common law judiciary within Chinese politics".
As Samuel Bickett -- who may have returned to the U.S.A. but still keeps his eyes on Hong Kong -- was moved to proclaim, this decision is "Absolutely wild" as what this is showing is that the Hong Kong government is utterly willing to ignore -- and disrespect -- Hong Kong's top court! Also, as a member of the Hong Kong Twitterverse who goes by Michael Delaney noted: "In Hong Kong, "rule of law" is when the government uses immigration regulations to get round the courts giving a verdict it doesn't like."
The immediate consequence of this decision is that Jimmy Lai's national security law trial has been further postponed. Then there's the possibility, when looking at the direction of how things are going, that "hundreds (if not thousands) of foreign citizens practicing as barristers & solicitors in Hong Kong" will be barred from advising clients about national security law issues and cases, never mind representing them in court!
A reminder in The Guardian piece: "Hong Kong was promised a “high degree of autonomy” when it was returned
to China in 1997, but Beijing and its local allies have rolled back
western-style civil rights, eroding the territory’s appeal as a global
business centre." (So, sorry, Paul Chan; people whose eyes are open aren't convinced that "Hong Kong is back".) For has been observed on Twitter (by a fellow who I reckon should have far more Followers than he does): "I suppose one kinda silver lining is that the rulings have forced GovHK to show its hand and make clear to everyone just how far they will go to rig NSL trials in their favor."
And while Hong Kong's judges aren't the villain with regards to the Tim Owens saga, they are very much so with regards to what's happened to a young man whose shooting on November 11th, 2019, by a panicked police officer, shocked Hong Kong. For not only was Chow Pak-kwan the victim of police violence (as a result of which he suffered serious trauma he had to have part of his liver, kidney and gallbladder removed in the
initial surgery, which left him with a condition called adhesive small
bowel obstruction (ASBO)), he was arrested and now has been sentenced to six years imprisonment for "obstructing a police officer and attempting to escape from legal custody".
Chow's co-defendant, Woo Tsz-kin, was also sentenced to six years imprisonment; in his case for "attempting to snatch an officer’s gun and obstructing a police officer". The presiding judge, Adriana Tse, said in court yesterday that "the two defendants were “troublemakers”" and had gone "forward to bully the lone officer… in a thuggish manner, and to publicly defy the power of the police."
Since video footage exists of the incident, please watch it and tell me whether you agree with Judge Tse's view. For my part, I think most people will be more inclined to go with lawyer Samuel Bickett's perspective of what happened: "a Hong Kong cop pulled a gun without justification & grabbed the first person he saw in a headlock. Another protester in black tried to help the victim. The cop then shot him." And feel that justice has not been served by the good samaritan not only having been sent to prison but the cop also never having been punished for his actions that dark November day three years ago.
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