A senior British judge has announced she is to quit Hong Kong’s top court when her term ends, adding that there are “all sorts of question marks” over Beijing’s new National Security Law, British media reported yesterday.
Baroness Brenda Hale, the first female president of the British Supreme Court, is one of 13 foreign judges who are non-permanent members of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
Unlike mainland China, where the courts are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kong’s judicial system remains independent and based on common law — a major reason for its position as a global business hub.
Photo: AFP
Lawyers from common law jurisdictions are able to operate in the territory, while senior judges are invited to sit in its top court, but China’s imposition of the National Security Law last year has sparked concerns in some legal circles about whether judicial independence can be maintained.
The British government is currently reviewing whether to bar its judges from serving in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
Hale mentioned the impact of the security law as she announced she would not seek a second term in the court when her tenure ends next month, the Times reported.
“The jury is out on how they will be able to operate the new National Security Law. There are all sorts of question marks up in the air,” the Times quoted Hale as telling a videoconference on Thursday. “I don’t wish to be reappointed.”
Hale, who headed Britain’s top court from 2017 to last year, said that there are serious concerns about the law, but argued that the remaining foreign judges were “keeping an eye on what’s going on there,” the Times said.
Once Hale steps down there would be nine British judges in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. The remainder hail from other common law jurisdictions such as South Africa and Australia.
The territory’s top judge, Hong Kong Chief Justice Andrew Cheung (張舉能), has said that the judiciary remains free from political interference.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in