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.”
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS