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Hong Kong's ICAC to appeal court censure

Hong Kong's graft-busting agency yesterday said it would appeal a court ruling that it had acted wrongly in raiding a newspaper and seizing records in a case that has raised fears about press freedoms in the city.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) raided offices of seven newspapers last month after they published the identity of a protected witness in a corruption case.

Yesterday the High Court granted an ICAC request to suspend a Tuesday court order requiring it to return items confiscated during its swoop on the Sing Tao Daily, one of the seven newspapers raided on July 24.

"We hope to file a notice of appeal," government lawyer Kevin Zervos, representing the ICAC, told the High Court yesterday.

He said the ICAC might file the notice later in the day.

"The stay is granted," judge Michael Hartmann told the court, saying the newspaper had no objection.

Zervos said the confiscated materials would remain sealed pending the outcome of the appeal.

Commission officials looked into confidential computer files and took away reporters' notebooks, seeking evidence of the newspapers' source for naming the witness.

The High Court ruled on Tuesday that the ICAC should not have raided the dailies.

In a verdict hailed as a victory for press freedom, the court revoked the search warrants empowering the ICAC to raid Sing Tao and ordered confiscated materials to be returned.

Lawyers said the ruling would not curb the ICAC's powers but might make it more prudent in exercising them in the future.

Sing Tao had mounted a legal challenge to the search warrants and demanded the return of the confiscated items. The Tuesday judgment could prompt the other six newspapers to follow suit.

The High Court judge said that, to seek a search warrant, the ICAC had to prove relevant materials held by journalists involved would have been destroyed. The commission had failed to prove that risk, he said.

The judge also noted that a free press was a constitutional guarantee in Hong Kong.

Lawyers said the ruling reaffirmed the importance of press freedom in the former British colony, where some journalists have practised self-censorship since the 1997 reversion to China, fearful of saying anything that will anger Beijing.

"I think it [the judgment] is in fact an assertion, a reassertion of the importance of the press and the care that law enforcement agencies must exercise before searching journalistic material," prominent lawyer and legislator Audrey Eu (余若薇) said.

"The power of the ICAC remains the same," Eu said. "I think the importance of the judgment lies in laying down safeguards, considerations and factors to be taken into account when it is supposed to exercise its power."

Law lecturer Eric Cheung said the verdict would help protect press freedoms.

"The ruling established important protection [for press freedom]. It imposes limits on the circumstances under which they can seek search warrants."
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