The Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) has upped pressure on the government to explain the blacklisting of a journalist in what was widely seen as an unprecedented attack on press freedom.
Financial Times senior journalist Victor Mallet was refused a work visa extension and then barred from entering the territory as a tourist after he chaired a talk by an independence advocate at the Hong Kong press club.
The government has refused to explain the decision.
In a statement late on Thursday, the association said that the rights enshrined in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, including freedom of expression, should be respected “whether one agrees with the information or ideas or not.”
“The HKBA considers that the public, both domestically and internationally, is justifiably concerned whether the decisions [over Mallet’s visa and entry to Hong Kong] constitute undue interferences with the right to freedom of expression,” it said.
It urged the government to explain the decisions “so that the public can see if good reasons exist for them.”
A report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission this week said there had been a “steady erosion” of Hong Kong’s autonomy under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and cited Mallet’s visa denial as an example of challenges to freedom of speech.
“Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s political system, rule of law and freedom of expression is moving the territory closer to becoming more like any other Chinese city,” the report said.
The congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission also called on the US Department of Commerce to publish assessments of the safety of exporting sensitive technology to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) denied the accusations in the report, saying it saw the relationship between Hong Kong and Beijing through “colored glasses.”
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