An Australian judge sitting on Hong Kong’s top court yesterday sided with the government to rule against former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting (林卓廷), who was jailed for revealing an anti-graft probe.
Hong Kong, a common law jurisdiction, invites overseas judges to hear cases at its Court of Final Appeal and their presence has been seen as a rule of law barometer for the former British colony.
James Allsop, a former chief justice of the Federal Court of Australia, took up his Hong Kong appointment last year just as the apex court was hit with an exodus of foreign judges, some of whom cited Beijing’s political crackdown as a reason for leaving.
File photo: AP
In his second-ever judgement in Hong Kong, Allsop cast the swing vote that broke the deadlock between four local judges and handed the government a 3-2 win — a rare outcome for a court not known for dissenting opinions.
At trial, Lam was found guilty of naming a police superintendent being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Hong Kong law forbids revealing the identity of anyone being probed by the anti-corruption watchdog.
The superintendent was in charge of an investigation into a mob attack — in which Lam was injured — at a railway station in July 2019, at the height of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
Police were accused of being slow to react that night, and the subsequent lack of arrests fueled allegations of collusion with organized crime — which the force repeatedly denied.
At the time, Lam cited “public interest” grounds to disclose that the ICAC was probing the police superintendent in charge of the case.
Lam was handed four months in jail, though his sentenced was overturned on appeal.
Hong Kong’s top court yesterday restored Lam’s conviction and sentence on a technical point of legal interpretation.
Allsop wrote that the law forbidding disclosure was meant to protect the investigation’s “integrity and efficacy” by not tipping off the people involved.
“If such were not prohibited, it might be thought that the protection of the integrity of the investigation actually being carried on was barely, or but weakly, protected by the [law],” he added.
China has tightened its grip on Hong Kong in the wake of the 2019 protests, imposing a national security law that officials said was needed to restore order.
Lam is already serving a sentence of nearly seven years, having been convicted last year in a separate case alongside other opposition figures under the security law. Last month, a judge added nearly three years to Lam’s time behind bars after convicting him of rioting in relation to the 2019 mob attack — despite the defense arguing that Lam had been a victim.
Five overseas judges have quit Hong Kong’s top court without finishing their terms since the security law was enacted in 2020. Four others have not renewed their appointments.
Allsop is one of six remaining “overseas non-permanent judges” and his term runs until May 2027.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image