Five Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners yesterday criticized a Hong Kong court for giving in to pressure from Chinese authorities.
In a legal battle that has lasted for more than six years, the Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong on Friday dismissed their appeal of a ruling in their case against Hong Kong’s Immigration Department.
The case stems from an incident in February 2003 in which Hong Kong immigration authorities refused entry to more than 80 Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners at Hong Kong International Airport. The Taiwanese had valid visas and were on their way to attend a conference.
BELIEFS
Following the incident, four of the practitioners filed a court complaint arguing they had been denied entry based solely on their beliefs. A fifth practitioner later joined the complaint.
The immigration authority denied that the Taiwanese travelers were turned away because of their Falun Gong affiliation, claiming they posed a threat to national security.
Theresa Chu (朱婉琪), one of the five appellants and a lawyer, who also represented the group in court, yesterday called the ruling by the appeals court “strange” and “unjust.”
At a press conference in Taipei, Chu said that in the more than 90-page long ruling, the judges devoted 60 pages to criticizing the immigration department, and by extension the Hong Kong government, for breaching the principle of “candor,” a legal duty by which the government must not purposely mislead the court or obstruct its proceedings by withholding key information.
“If you just read the 60 pages where the judges criticize the Hong Kong government, you would think the court ruled in our favor — but it didn’t,” Chu said.
COURAGE
The court lacked the courage to make a ruling free from political pressure, she said.
Chu said the case was full of contradictions and loopholes.
In 2005, two immigration officers questioned as witnesses said the Falun Gong practitioners were sent back to Taiwan for “national security” reasons, but refused to provide documents related to the incident.
After the court ordered the immigration department to provide the documents, the department said all documents and records related to the appellants had been destroyed just weeks after the 2003 incident.
Chu said this was just one of many instances in which the department seems to have misled or lied to the court.
Chinese authorities already control Hong Kong’s administrative and legislative branches, Chu said.
Now “even the judicial system, the last frontier, has been compromised.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS