© KEYSTONE/AP/VINCENT YU
London announced on Wednesday the withdrawal of British judges, including two from the British Supreme Court, sitting in Hong Kong’s highest court, due to the national security law imposed by China in 2020 in the autonomous territory.
“We have seen a systematic erosion of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong. Since the imposition of the national security law, authorities have cracked down on freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of association,” Foreign Minister Liz Truss said in a statement.
“The situation has reached a crisis point, where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit in the main court of Hong Kong, at the risk of legitimizing oppression,” she added.
In accordance with the agreement providing for the return of this former British colony to China in 1997, British judges have sat since that date on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, the highest court in Hong Kong. There are also retired judges from the UK, Australia and Canada.
China “strongly deplored” the decision, accusing London of wanting to “maliciously vilify China’s policies for Hong Kong and discredit the development of the rule of law in Hong Kong”.
The Hong Kong government regretted “external political pressure on judges in an otherwise independent judiciary”.
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung assured that the functioning of the court would not be affected.
In all, eight of the twelve non-permanent foreign magistrates are British, including the president and the vice-president of the British Supreme Court who announced their resignation “with immediate effect”, in a separate press release.
Do not endorse the administration
“I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from the values of political freedom and freedom of expression”, said Supreme Court President Robert Reed, announcing his departure and that of his colleague Patrick Hodge.
It was unclear whether the other UK judges also intended to step down immediately.
The national security law, enacted at the end of June 2020 following a wave of demonstrations for freedoms in Hong Kong, plans to punish separatist, “terrorist” activities, subversion, or even foreign interference in the Chinese autonomous territory.
London had denounced it as a “manifest violation” of the autonomy enjoyed by its former colony, deciding in response to extend the rights to immigration, and eventually access to British citizenship, for many inhabitants of the territory.
