Furthermore, the goal of filing a judicial review was obtaining a ruling on the question of religious discrimination. One of Chu’s main concerns is the alleged existence of a “blacklist” of Falun Gong practitioners used by Hong Kong immigration authorities to block them from entry at “sensitive times,” such as when protests or conferences are planned in Hong Kong.
But there was no guarantee that the Final Court of Appeal would have addressed that question. It might have focused on the government’s breach of candor, as the Court of Appeal did.
As Chu sees it, in the end, the government got away both with breaching candor and blocking any investigation into the February 2003 incident and the blacklist.
At the end of his judgment, Ma says the government got off lightly. After dismissing the appeal, he writes: “I conclude this judgment by saying that the Respondent [government] can consider himself extremely fortunate in these proceedings.”
Chu couldn’t agree more.
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